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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. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  2. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  3. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  4. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  5. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  6. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  7. David sat on the ________________.
  8. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  9. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  10. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  11. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  12. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  13. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  14. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  15. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  16. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  17. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  18. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  19. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  20. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  21. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  22. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  23. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  24. There's no middle ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. club — for dancing
  2. bark — to shout
  3. degree — from a university
  4. clip — for paper
  5. swing — in golf
  6. wind — to turn a key
  7. swing — to play on
  8. clip — a video
  9. degree — an amount
  10. club — for golf
  11. bark — a dog's sound
  12. wind — moving air
  13. degree — temperature
  14. vault — a safe
  15. ground — crushed
  16. vault — in gymnastics
  17. club — a group
  18. wind — moving air
  19. bark — of a tree
  20. clip — to cut
  21. ground — the earth
  22. vault — an arched ceiling
  23. swing — music
  24. ground — a position

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