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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 116 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. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  2. We're almost out of ________________.
  3. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  4. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  5. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  6. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  7. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  8. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  9. You don't need to ________________ round.
  10. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  11. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  12. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  13. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  14. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  15. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  16. He was locked up in a ________________.
  17. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  18. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  19. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  20. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  21. He works in a ________________ mill.
  22. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  23. She's very handy with a ________________.
  24. She got the top ________________ in the exam.

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

Answer key

  1. club — for golf
  2. pop — soda
  3. race — a contest
  4. club — for dancing
  5. pop — music
  6. mine — for digging
  7. field — farmland
  8. mine — belonging to me
  9. pop — to visit
  10. cell — a phone
  11. field — for sport
  12. race — the arms race
  13. mark — to pay attention
  14. club — a group
  15. cell — in biology
  16. cell — in a prison
  17. saw — past of 'see'
  18. field — a subject
  19. mine — an explosive
  20. race — humankind
  21. saw — the tool
  22. mark — a trace
  23. saw — the tool
  24. mark — a grade

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