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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. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  2. The water is too ________________.
  3. He is an ace ________________.
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  6. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  7. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  8. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  9. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  10. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  11. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  12. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  13. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  14. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  15. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  16. The King held a masked ________________.
  17. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  18. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  19. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  20. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  21. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  22. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  23. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  24. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.

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

Answer key

  1. club — for dancing
  2. cold — not warm
  3. pitcher — in baseball
  4. cold — an illness
  5. bark — to shout
  6. club — for golf
  7. bark — a dog's sound
  8. cold — the Cold War
  9. lash — to lash out
  10. club — a group
  11. lash — a whip stroke
  12. drill — a practice
  13. cap — of ice
  14. bark — of a tree
  15. ball — a round shape
  16. ball — a dance
  17. ball — a great time
  18. cap — a lid
  19. pitcher — a jug
  20. drill — army training
  21. lash — an eyelash
  22. drill — the tool
  23. pitcher — a jug
  24. cap — a hat

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