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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. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  2. Have you met the new head ________________?
  3. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  4. You don't need to ________________ round.
  5. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  6. The water is too ________________.
  7. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  8. We're on a ________________ here.
  9. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  10. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  11. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  12. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  13. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  14. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  15. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  16. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  17. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  18. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  19. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  20. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  21. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  22. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  23. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  24. We're almost out of ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. roll — a list
  2. coach — a trainer
  3. kick — with a leg
  4. pop — to visit
  5. pop — music
  6. cold — not warm
  7. kick — a thrill
  8. roll — on a roll
  9. coach — pulled by horses
  10. racket — for tennis
  11. file — a document
  12. roll — a cake
  13. club — for golf
  14. club — for dancing
  15. file — a line of people
  16. file — a tool
  17. cold — an illness
  18. racket — a loud noise
  19. cold — the Cold War
  20. racket — for tennis
  21. kick — in football
  22. coach — a trainer
  23. club — a group
  24. pop — soda

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