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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. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  2. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  3. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  4. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  5. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  6. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  7. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  8. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  9. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  10. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  11. False peace will not ________________.
  12. Have you found your soul ________________?
  13. He works in a ________________ mill.
  14. She's very handy with a ________________.
  15. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  16. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  17. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  18. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  19. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  20. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  21. That must've been a ________________.
  22. The water is too ________________.
  23. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  24. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.

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

Answer key

  1. club — for dancing
  2. kid — child
  3. mate — to breed
  4. mate — a friend
  5. clip — a video
  6. club — a group
  7. rush — to hurry
  8. cold — the Cold War
  9. cold — an illness
  10. kid — to tease
  11. last — to go on
  12. mate — a partner
  13. saw — the tool
  14. saw — the tool
  15. last — finally
  16. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  17. club — for golf
  18. clip — to cut
  19. clip — for paper
  20. last — final
  21. rush — a thrill
  22. cold — not warm
  23. rush — hurry
  24. saw — past of 'see'

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