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Multiple-Meaning Words

A multiple-meaning word is spelled and said the same way but means different things: a bat flies at night, and you hit a ball with a bat. Context is the only clue, which is why these words are such good reading practice.

Here are 124 multiple-meaning words from past ClueBy puzzles, each with a real example sentence for every meaning. Use them as a reference, or make a printable worksheet below.

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Students read each sentence and write the missing word. Every word appears in several sentences, each time with a different meaning.

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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. False peace will not ________________.
  2. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  3. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  4. He was locked up in a ________________.
  5. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  6. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  7. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  8. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  9. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  10. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  11. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  12. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  13. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  14. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  15. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  16. I'll be taking the ________________.
  17. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  18. The water is too ________________.
  19. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  20. He is an ace ________________.
  21. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  22. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  23. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  24. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com

Answer key

  1. last — to go on
  2. club — for golf
  3. club — for dancing
  4. cell — in a prison
  5. cell — a phone
  6. scale — for weighing
  7. scale — in music
  8. cold — the Cold War
  9. cold — an illness
  10. kick — a thrill
  11. cell — in biology
  12. last — finally
  13. kick — in football
  14. pitcher — a jug
  15. pitcher — a jug
  16. tube — the underground
  17. tube — a container
  18. cold — not warm
  19. kick — with a leg
  20. pitcher — in baseball
  21. tube — in a tire
  22. last — final
  23. scale — size or range
  24. club — a group

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

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Frequently asked questions

What are multiple-meaning words?

Words with the same spelling and pronunciation but more than one meaning, like bark (of a dog or of a tree) or bank (for money or of a river). You can only tell which meaning is meant from the rest of the sentence.

Are multiple-meaning words the same as homonyms?

Mostly, yes. Teachers often use "multiple-meaning words" and "homonyms" for the same idea. Homophones are different: they sound alike but are spelled differently, like flour and flower.

Are the worksheets free?

Yes. Make and print as many as you like for home or classroom use. Each sheet has its own link, so you can print the same one again.

Where do the words come from?

From past ClueBy puzzles, a daily game where you sort twelve sentences by their missing word. A new puzzle every day adds four more words to this list.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com