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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. David sat on the ________________.
  2. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  3. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  4. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  5. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  6. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  7. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  8. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  9. He is an ace ________________.
  10. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  11. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  12. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  13. It's one o'clock ________________.
  14. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  15. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  16. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  17. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  18. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  19. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  20. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  21. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  22. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  23. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  24. The flowers bloom in the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. swing — to play on
  2. sharp — clever
  3. track — to keep track
  4. club — for golf
  5. track — a path
  6. field — for sport
  7. track — a song
  8. swing — music
  9. pitcher — in baseball
  10. sharp — with an edge
  11. field — a subject
  12. pitcher — a jug
  13. sharp — exactly
  14. club — a group
  15. pitcher — a jug
  16. club — for dancing
  17. wake — to stop sleeping
  18. spring — a coil
  19. swing — in golf
  20. field — farmland
  21. spring — of water
  22. wake — before a funeral
  23. wake — a trail
  24. spring — the season

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