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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. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  2. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  3. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  4. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  5. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  6. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  7. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  8. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  9. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  10. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  11. False peace will not ________________.
  12. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  13. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  14. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  15. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  16. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  17. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  18. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  19. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  20. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  21. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  22. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  23. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  24. Do you need a ________________ with that?

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

Answer key

  1. last — final
  2. last — finally
  3. club — for golf
  4. pit — in a race
  5. club — a group
  6. kid — to tease
  7. hand — in cards
  8. squash — the sport
  9. march — the month
  10. squash — the vegetable
  11. last — to go on
  12. march — the month
  13. squash — to crush
  14. kid — child
  15. pit — a fruit stone
  16. file — a line of people
  17. file — a tool
  18. pit — a hole
  19. file — a document
  20. hand — part of the body
  21. march — music
  22. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  23. club — for dancing
  24. hand — help

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