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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. How do you ________________ your surname?
  3. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  4. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  5. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  6. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  7. The people resisted their cruel ________________.
  8. A ________________ helps one to draw a straight line.
  9. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  10. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  11. Borders were drawn on the map using a ________________, with no regard for cultural realities on the ground.
  12. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  13. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  14. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  15. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  16. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  17. The water is too ________________.
  18. The tickets are free of ________________.
  19. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  20. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  21. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  22. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  23. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  24. Have you settled on a ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. club — for dancing
  2. spell — letters
  3. chest — of your body
  4. club — for golf
  5. fork — in a road
  6. chest — of your body
  7. ruler — a monarch
  8. ruler — for measuring
  9. charge — in control
  10. date — on the calendar
  11. ruler — for measuring
  12. charge — electricity
  13. fork — to eat with
  14. date — the fruit
  15. fork — a garden tool
  16. cold — an illness
  17. cold — not warm
  18. charge — a price
  19. club — a group
  20. spell — magic
  21. spell — a short time
  22. chest — a box
  23. cold — the Cold War
  24. date — on the calendar

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