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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. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  3. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  4. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  5. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  6. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  7. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  8. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  9. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  10. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  11. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  12. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  13. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  14. The water is too ________________.
  15. We're on a ________________ here.
  16. She's very handy with a ________________.
  17. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  18. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  19. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  20. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  21. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  22. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  23. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  24. He works in a ________________ mill.

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

Answer key

  1. club — for dancing
  2. roll — a cake
  3. racket — a loud noise
  4. chest — of your body
  5. club — for golf
  6. racket — for tennis
  7. saw — past of 'see'
  8. stem — to come from
  9. net — in sport
  10. net — for catching
  11. roll — a list
  12. cold — an illness
  13. cold — the Cold War
  14. cold — not warm
  15. roll — on a roll
  16. saw — the tool
  17. chest — of your body
  18. stem — a stem cell
  19. club — a group
  20. stem — of a plant
  21. racket — for tennis
  22. net — after costs
  23. chest — a box
  24. saw — the tool

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