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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 belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  2. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  3. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  4. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  5. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  6. The ball is in your ________________.
  7. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  8. There's no middle ________________.
  9. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  10. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  11. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  12. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  13. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  14. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  15. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  16. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  17. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  18. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  19. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  20. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  21. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  22. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  23. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  24. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.

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

Answer key

  1. club — a group
  2. kid — child
  3. wound — past of 'wind'
  4. board — a flat piece
  5. court — of law
  6. court — for sport
  7. club — for golf
  8. ground — a position
  9. ground — the earth
  10. branch — of a tree
  11. branch — a division
  12. wound — an injury
  13. scale — for weighing
  14. court — of a king
  15. ground — crushed
  16. scale — size or range
  17. wound — an injury
  18. club — for dancing
  19. scale — in music
  20. board — a committee
  21. branch — of a bank
  22. board — to get on
  23. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  24. kid — to tease

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