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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 116 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 belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  2. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  3. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  4. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  5. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  6. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  7. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  8. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  9. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  10. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  11. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  12. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  13. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  14. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  15. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  16. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  17. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  18. It's one o'clock ________________.
  19. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  20. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  21. The water is too ________________.
  22. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  23. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  24. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.

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

Answer key

  1. club — a group
  2. cap — a lid
  3. racket — a loud noise
  4. fine — high quality
  5. cap — of ice
  6. racket — for tennis
  7. sharp — clever
  8. staff — a stick
  9. racket — for tennis
  10. club — for dancing
  11. club — for golf
  12. fine — a penalty
  13. bat — in an idiom
  14. staff — employees
  15. sharp — with an edge
  16. fine — all right
  17. bat — the animal
  18. sharp — exactly
  19. cold — an illness
  20. cold — the Cold War
  21. cold — not warm
  22. cap — a hat
  23. staff — employees
  24. bat — for baseball

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