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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. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  2. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  3. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  4. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  5. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  6. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  7. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  8. David sat on the ________________.
  9. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  10. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  11. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  12. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  13. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  14. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  15. The water is too ________________.
  16. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  17. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  18. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  19. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  20. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  21. This piece is in a major ________________.
  22. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  23. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  24. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.

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

Answer key

  1. bat — for baseball
  2. straw — a straw man
  3. bass — the instrument
  4. club — for dancing
  5. key — the most important part
  6. wind — moving air
  7. club — for golf
  8. swing — to play on
  9. key — for a lock
  10. bass — the fish
  11. straw — dry grass
  12. swing — music
  13. straw — to clutch at straws
  14. wind — moving air
  15. cold — not warm
  16. cold — the Cold War
  17. bat — in an idiom
  18. club — a group
  19. bat — the animal
  20. wind — to turn a key
  21. key — in music
  22. bass — low music
  23. cold — an illness
  24. swing — in golf

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