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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. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  3. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  4. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  5. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  6. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  7. He is an ace ________________.
  8. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  9. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  10. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  11. The water is too ________________.
  12. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  13. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  14. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  15. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  16. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  17. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  18. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  19. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  20. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  21. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  22. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  23. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  24. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. club — for dancing
  2. cap — a lid
  3. tear — from crying
  4. club — a group
  5. stem — a stem cell
  6. pitcher — a jug
  7. pitcher — in baseball
  8. cold — an illness
  9. stem — of a plant
  10. hand — help
  11. cold — not warm
  12. kick — in football
  13. cap — of ice
  14. tear — from crying
  15. tear — to rip
  16. cold — the Cold War
  17. cap — a hat
  18. stem — to come from
  19. kick — a thrill
  20. pitcher — a jug
  21. hand — in cards
  22. kick — with a leg
  23. hand — part of the body
  24. club — for 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