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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 belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  2. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  3. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  4. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  5. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  6. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  7. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  8. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  9. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  10. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  11. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  12. The King held a masked ________________.
  13. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  14. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  15. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  16. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  17. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  18. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  19. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  20. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  21. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  22. When are we going to ________________?
  23. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  24. The kitten curled into a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. club — a group
  2. wind — to turn a key
  3. race — humankind
  4. spring — of water
  5. land — ground
  6. snap — to speak sharply
  7. tear — to rip
  8. wind — moving air
  9. snap — to click
  10. spring — the season
  11. snap — to snap out of it
  12. ball — a dance
  13. tear — from crying
  14. club — for dancing
  15. tear — from crying
  16. land — a country
  17. race — a contest
  18. spring — a coil
  19. wind — moving air
  20. ball — a great time
  21. race — the arms race
  22. land — to come down
  23. club — for golf
  24. ball — a round shape

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