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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. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  2. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  3. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  4. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  5. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  6. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  7. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  8. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  9. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  10. That was a fun ________________.
  11. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  12. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  13. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  14. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  15. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  16. David sat on the ________________.
  17. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  18. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  19. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  20. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  21. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  22. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  23. The water is too ________________.
  24. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.

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

Answer key

  1. snap — to snap out of it
  2. club — a group
  3. straw — a straw man
  4. club — for golf
  5. cold — an illness
  6. cap — of ice
  7. snap — to click
  8. swing — in golf
  9. deal — an agreement
  10. game — a match
  11. cap — a hat
  12. swing — music
  13. snap — to speak sharply
  14. cap — a lid
  15. club — for dancing
  16. swing — to play on
  17. deal — a big deal
  18. game — a kind of play
  19. straw — dry grass
  20. cold — the Cold War
  21. game — wild animals
  22. straw — to clutch at straws
  23. cold — not warm
  24. deal — to handle

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