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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. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  3. He works in a ________________ mill.
  4. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  5. The water is too ________________.
  6. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  7. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  8. The ________________ took off on time.
  9. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  10. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  11. She's very handy with a ________________.
  12. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  13. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  14. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  15. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  16. He is an ace ________________.
  17. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  18. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  19. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  20. The tickets are free of ________________.
  21. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  22. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  23. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  24. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.

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

Answer key

  1. club — a group
  2. hand — in cards
  3. saw — the tool
  4. charge — electricity
  5. cold — not warm
  6. pitcher — a jug
  7. plane — in geometry
  8. plane — an aircraft
  9. hand — help
  10. hand — part of the body
  11. saw — the tool
  12. club — for golf
  13. bark — to shout
  14. cold — an illness
  15. bark — a dog's sound
  16. pitcher — in baseball
  17. bark — of a tree
  18. saw — past of 'see'
  19. cold — the Cold War
  20. charge — a price
  21. charge — in control
  22. plane — a tool
  23. pitcher — a jug
  24. club — for dancing

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