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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. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  2. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  3. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  4. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  5. The ball is in your ________________.
  6. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  7. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  8. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  9. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  10. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  11. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  12. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  13. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  14. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  15. How do you ________________ your surname?
  16. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  17. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  18. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  19. The water is too ________________.
  20. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  21. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  22. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  23. The ________________ took off on time.
  24. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — the Cold War
  2. spell — a short time
  3. wind — to turn a key
  4. club — for golf
  5. court — for sport
  6. club — a group
  7. wound — an injury
  8. wound — an injury
  9. wind — moving air
  10. court — of law
  11. court — of a king
  12. lash — an eyelash
  13. wind — moving air
  14. spell — magic
  15. spell — letters
  16. cold — an illness
  17. lash — a whip stroke
  18. plane — in geometry
  19. cold — not warm
  20. lash — to lash out
  21. wound — past of 'wind'
  22. plane — a tool
  23. plane — an aircraft
  24. club — for dancing

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