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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. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  2. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  3. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  4. He has no idea where the ________________ is.
  5. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  6. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  7. Tom was very happy that his son returned home ________________ and sound.
  8. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  9. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  10. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  11. That was a fun ________________.
  12. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  13. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  14. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  15. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  16. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  17. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  18. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  19. When are we going to ________________?
  20. Is it ________________ for us to be here?
  21. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  22. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  23. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  24. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.

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

Answer key

  1. land — ground
  2. club — for golf
  3. spring — the season
  4. safe — a strongbox
  5. snap — to click
  6. spring — of water
  7. safe — out of danger
  8. snap — to speak sharply
  9. club — for dancing
  10. club — a group
  11. game — a match
  12. clip — a video
  13. game — a kind of play
  14. chest — of your body
  15. game — wild animals
  16. chest — of your body
  17. spring — a coil
  18. land — a country
  19. land — to come down
  20. safe — out of danger
  21. snap — to snap out of it
  22. clip — for paper
  23. clip — to cut
  24. chest — a box

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