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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. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  3. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  4. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  5. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  6. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  7. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  8. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  9. We're almost out of ________________.
  10. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  11. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  12. That was a fun ________________.
  13. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  14. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  15. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  16. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  17. The water is too ________________.
  18. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  19. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  20. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  21. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  22. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  23. It's one o'clock ________________.
  24. You don't need to ________________ round.

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

Answer key

  1. club — a group
  2. sharp — with an edge
  3. trunk — of a tree
  4. game — a kind of play
  5. pop — music
  6. trunk — of an elephant
  7. tear — to rip
  8. pit — a fruit stone
  9. pop — soda
  10. club — for golf
  11. pit — in a race
  12. game — a match
  13. club — for dancing
  14. cold — an illness
  15. trunk — of a car
  16. tear — from crying
  17. cold — not warm
  18. sharp — clever
  19. game — wild animals
  20. pit — a hole
  21. tear — from crying
  22. cold — the Cold War
  23. sharp — exactly
  24. pop — to visit

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