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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. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  2. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  3. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  4. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  5. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  6. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  7. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  8. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  9. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  10. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  11. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  12. That was a fun ________________.
  13. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  14. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  15. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  16. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  17. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  18. David sat on the ________________.
  19. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  20. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  21. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  22. The water is too ________________.
  23. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  24. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. wake — to stop sleeping
  2. band — a ring
  3. swing — in golf
  4. swing — music
  5. scale — for weighing
  6. cold — the Cold War
  7. game — wild animals
  8. trunk — of an elephant
  9. scale — size or range
  10. kick — with a leg
  11. kick — in football
  12. game — a match
  13. game — a kind of play
  14. scale — in music
  15. wake — before a funeral
  16. band — a rubber band
  17. kick — a thrill
  18. swing — to play on
  19. wake — a trail
  20. trunk — of a tree
  21. cold — an illness
  22. cold — not warm
  23. trunk — of a car
  24. band — a music 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