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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. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  2. He was locked up in a ________________.
  3. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  4. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  5. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  6. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  7. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  8. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  9. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  10. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  11. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  12. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  13. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  14. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  15. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  16. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  17. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  18. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  19. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  20. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  21. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  22. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  23. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  24. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. track — a path
  2. cell — in a prison
  3. club — for golf
  4. club — for dancing
  5. cell — a phone
  6. lie — an untruth
  7. cell — in biology
  8. spring — the season
  9. club — a group
  10. track — to keep track
  11. bark — to shout
  12. hide — animal skin
  13. track — a song
  14. spring — a coil
  15. degree — from a university
  16. lie — an untruth
  17. hide — to keep secret
  18. degree — an amount
  19. degree — temperature
  20. hide — to keep secret
  21. lie — to recline
  22. bark — a dog's sound
  23. spring — of water
  24. bark — of a tree

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