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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 116 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 was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  2. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  3. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  4. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  5. False peace will not ________________.
  6. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  7. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  8. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  9. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  10. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  11. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  12. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  13. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  14. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  15. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  16. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  17. When are we going to ________________?
  18. It's one o'clock ________________.
  19. David sat on the ________________.
  20. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  21. The King held a masked ________________.
  22. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  23. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  24. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.

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

Answer key

  1. ball — a great time
  2. wind — to turn a key
  3. hand — in cards
  4. sharp — clever
  5. last — to go on
  6. last — final
  7. wind — moving air
  8. wake — a trail
  9. wake — to stop sleeping
  10. hand — part of the body
  11. last — finally
  12. swing — music
  13. wind — moving air
  14. hand — help
  15. land — a country
  16. wake — before a funeral
  17. land — to come down
  18. sharp — exactly
  19. swing — to play on
  20. land — ground
  21. ball — a dance
  22. ball — a round shape
  23. sharp — with an edge
  24. swing — in golf

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