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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 120 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. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  2. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  3. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  4. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  5. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  6. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  7. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  8. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  9. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  10. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  11. The King held a masked ________________.
  12. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  13. He is an ace ________________.
  14. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  15. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  16. The ________________ market has crashed.
  17. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  18. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  19. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  20. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  21. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  22. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  23. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  24. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. club — for dancing
  2. snap — to click
  3. club — for golf
  4. snap — to snap out of it
  5. band — a rubber band
  6. club — a group
  7. stock — a soup base
  8. ball — a great time
  9. march — the month
  10. pitcher — a jug
  11. ball — a dance
  12. march — the month
  13. pitcher — in baseball
  14. ball — a round shape
  15. band — a ring
  16. stock — shares
  17. pitcher — a jug
  18. march — music
  19. wind — moving air
  20. snap — to speak sharply
  21. stock — goods
  22. wind — moving air
  23. wind — to turn a key
  24. band — a music 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