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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. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  2. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  3. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  4. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  5. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  6. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  7. This piece is in a major ________________.
  8. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  9. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  10. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  11. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  12. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  13. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  14. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  15. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  16. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  17. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  18. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  19. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  20. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  21. The ball is in your ________________.
  22. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  23. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  24. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.

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

Answer key

  1. wake — a trail
  2. hand — help
  3. straw — to clutch at straws
  4. key — the most important part
  5. wake — to stop sleeping
  6. key — for a lock
  7. key — in music
  8. degree — from a university
  9. hand — in cards
  10. club — for dancing
  11. drill — army training
  12. court — of law
  13. wake — before a funeral
  14. club — for golf
  15. degree — an amount
  16. court — of a king
  17. hand — part of the body
  18. straw — dry grass
  19. drill — the tool
  20. straw — a straw man
  21. court — for sport
  22. drill — a practice
  23. degree — temperature
  24. club — a group

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