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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 belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  2. David sat on the ________________.
  3. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  4. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  5. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  6. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  7. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  8. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  9. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  10. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  11. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  12. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  13. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  14. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  15. The water is too ________________.
  16. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  17. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  18. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  19. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  20. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  21. We're almost out of ________________.
  22. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  23. You don't need to ________________ round.
  24. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.

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

Answer key

  1. club — a group
  2. swing — to play on
  3. cold — an illness
  4. club — for dancing
  5. trunk — of an elephant
  6. trunk — of a car
  7. pop — music
  8. row — a quarrel
  9. swing — in golf
  10. bark — of a tree
  11. cold — the Cold War
  12. racket — for tennis
  13. bark — a dog's sound
  14. trunk — of a tree
  15. cold — not warm
  16. swing — music
  17. club — for golf
  18. row — a line
  19. racket — a loud noise
  20. racket — for tennis
  21. pop — soda
  22. row — to paddle
  23. pop — to visit
  24. bark — to shout

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