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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. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  2. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  3. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  4. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  5. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  6. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  7. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  8. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  9. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  10. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  11. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  12. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  13. There's no middle ________________.
  14. It's one o'clock ________________.
  15. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  16. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  17. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  18. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  19. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  20. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  21. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  22. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  23. The ball is in your ________________.
  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. band — a music group
  2. wave — a sudden rise
  3. ground — the earth
  4. club — for dancing
  5. club — a group
  6. band — a ring
  7. ground — crushed
  8. sharp — with an edge
  9. hand — help
  10. court — of a king
  11. wound — past of 'wind'
  12. sharp — clever
  13. ground — a position
  14. sharp — exactly
  15. wave — of the sea
  16. wound — an injury
  17. wave — with your hand
  18. hand — in cards
  19. hand — part of the body
  20. band — a rubber band
  21. wound — an injury
  22. court — of law
  23. court — for sport
  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