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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. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  2. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  3. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  4. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  5. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  6. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  7. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  8. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  9. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  10. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  11. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  12. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  13. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  14. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  15. Have you met the new head ________________?
  16. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  17. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  18. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  19. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  20. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  21. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  22. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  23. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  24. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.

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

Answer key

  1. scale — size or range
  2. club — for golf
  3. hand — part of the body
  4. chip — for betting
  5. scale — in music
  6. bat — the animal
  7. club — a group
  8. hand — help
  9. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  10. bat — for baseball
  11. coach — a trainer
  12. bat — in an idiom
  13. hand — in cards
  14. coach — pulled by horses
  15. coach — a trainer
  16. shower — to wash
  17. club — for dancing
  18. scale — for weighing
  19. chip — in a computer
  20. shower — a meteor shower
  21. shower — rain
  22. kid — child
  23. kid — to tease
  24. chip — to eat

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