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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. You don't need to ________________ round.
  2. Nothing provides more peace of mind than a ________________ decision.
  3. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  4. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  5. The water is too ________________.
  6. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  7. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  8. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  9. We're almost out of ________________.
  10. I'll stand ________________ for what I deserve.
  11. He is an ace ________________.
  12. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  13. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  14. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  15. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  16. She works as an advertiser at a New Jersey ________________.
  17. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  18. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  19. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  20. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  21. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  22. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  23. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  24. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.

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

Answer key

  1. pop — to visit
  2. firm — decided
  3. club — for dancing
  4. club — for golf
  5. cold — not warm
  6. cold — the Cold War
  7. tear — from crying
  8. tear — from crying
  9. pop — soda
  10. firm — steady
  11. pitcher — in baseball
  12. cold — an illness
  13. root — the cause
  14. root — of a word
  15. club — a group
  16. firm — a company
  17. pitcher — a jug
  18. pitcher — a jug
  19. straw — dry grass
  20. straw — a straw man
  21. root — of a plant
  22. tear — to rip
  23. straw — to clutch at straws
  24. pop — music

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