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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. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  2. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  3. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  4. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  5. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  6. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  7. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  8. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  9. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  10. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  11. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  12. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  13. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  14. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  15. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  16. This piece is in a major ________________.
  17. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  18. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  19. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  20. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  21. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  22. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  23. It's one o'clock ________________.
  24. I'd like to play a game of ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. club — a group
  2. shower — rain
  3. bat — in an idiom
  4. key — the most important part
  5. club — for dancing
  6. degree — temperature
  7. shower — a meteor shower
  8. sharp — clever
  9. race — the arms race
  10. bat — for baseball
  11. race — humankind
  12. squash — to crush
  13. squash — the vegetable
  14. key — for a lock
  15. degree — an amount
  16. key — in music
  17. bat — the animal
  18. race — a contest
  19. club — for golf
  20. degree — from a university
  21. shower — to wash
  22. sharp — with an edge
  23. sharp — exactly
  24. squash — the sport

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