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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. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  2. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  3. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  4. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  5. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  6. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  7. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  8. False peace will not ________________.
  9. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  10. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  11. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  12. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  13. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  14. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  15. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  16. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  17. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  18. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  19. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  20. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  21. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  22. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  23. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  24. Boris sat near the fire ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. club — for golf
  2. track — a song
  3. last — final
  4. mine — belonging to me
  5. pit — a fruit stone
  6. bat — the animal
  7. bat — for baseball
  8. last — to go on
  9. wound — past of 'wind'
  10. club — for dancing
  11. mine — for digging
  12. track — to keep track
  13. drill — a practice
  14. last — finally
  15. drill — the tool
  16. bat — in an idiom
  17. wound — an injury
  18. mine — an explosive
  19. drill — army training
  20. pit — in a race
  21. club — a group
  22. wound — an injury
  23. track — a path
  24. pit — a hole

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