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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. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  2. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  3. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  4. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  5. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  6. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  7. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  8. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  9. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  10. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  11. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  12. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  13. It's one o'clock ________________.
  14. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  15. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  16. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  17. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  18. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  19. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  20. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  21. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  22. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  23. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  24. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.

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

Answer key

  1. club — for dancing
  2. sharp — clever
  3. cue — for pool
  4. degree — temperature
  5. chest — of your body
  6. cue — a hint
  7. kid — to tease
  8. sharp — with an edge
  9. march — the month
  10. degree — an amount
  11. straw — dry grass
  12. straw — to clutch at straws
  13. sharp — exactly
  14. club — a group
  15. club — for golf
  16. straw — a straw man
  17. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  18. kid — child
  19. degree — from a university
  20. chest — a box
  21. march — the month
  22. cue — a signal
  23. chest — of your body
  24. march — music

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