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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 120 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 was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  2. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  3. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  4. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  5. David sat on the ________________.
  6. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  7. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  8. The King held a masked ________________.
  9. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  10. There's no middle ________________.
  11. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  12. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  13. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  14. The water is too ________________.
  15. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  16. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  17. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  18. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  19. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  20. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  21. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  22. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  23. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  24. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.

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

Answer key

  1. ball — a great time
  2. wave — of the sea
  3. cold — an illness
  4. rock — music
  5. swing — to play on
  6. ball — a round shape
  7. cold — the Cold War
  8. ball — a dance
  9. capital — a big letter
  10. ground — a position
  11. club — a group
  12. rock — a stone
  13. club — for dancing
  14. cold — not warm
  15. swing — in golf
  16. rock — to move gently
  17. ground — crushed
  18. wave — with your hand
  19. swing — music
  20. ground — the earth
  21. club — for golf
  22. capital — a city
  23. capital — money
  24. wave — a sudden rise

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