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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 124 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. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  2. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  3. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  6. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  7. He was locked up in a ________________.
  8. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  9. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  10. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  11. This piece is in a major ________________.
  12. The water is too ________________.
  13. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  14. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  15. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  16. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  17. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  18. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  19. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  20. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  21. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  22. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  23. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  24. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.

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

Answer key

  1. key — for a lock
  2. club — a group
  3. wave — of the sea
  4. cold — an illness
  5. shower — rain
  6. key — the most important part
  7. cell — in a prison
  8. can — to be able to
  9. clip — for paper
  10. wave — with your hand
  11. key — in music
  12. cold — not warm
  13. shower — to wash
  14. club — for dancing
  15. clip — a video
  16. wave — a sudden rise
  17. cell — a phone
  18. shower — a meteor shower
  19. can — a tin
  20. club — for golf
  21. cell — in biology
  22. can — a tin
  23. clip — to cut
  24. cold — the Cold War

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