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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. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  2. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  3. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  4. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  5. We're almost out of ________________.
  6. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  7. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  8. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  9. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  10. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  11. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  12. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  13. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  14. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  15. You don't need to ________________ round.
  16. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  17. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  18. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  19. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  20. David sat on the ________________.
  21. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  22. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  23. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  24. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. club — for dancing
  2. straw — to clutch at straws
  3. pop — music
  4. fall — to drop
  5. pop — soda
  6. fall — to drop
  7. fall — the season
  8. swing — in golf
  9. club — a group
  10. straw — dry grass
  11. straw — a straw man
  12. leaves — to go away
  13. leaves — lets stay
  14. shower — rain
  15. pop — to visit
  16. leaves — of a tree
  17. shower — to wash
  18. shower — a meteor shower
  19. hand — part of the body
  20. swing — to play on
  21. swing — music
  22. hand — in cards
  23. hand — help
  24. club — for golf

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