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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. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  2. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  3. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  4. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  5. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  6. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  7. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  8. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  9. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  10. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  11. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  12. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  13. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  14. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  15. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  16. How do you ________________ your surname?
  17. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  18. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  19. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  20. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  21. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  22. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  23. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  24. The old man leaned on his ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. staff — employees
  2. club — for golf
  3. club — for dancing
  4. spell — magic
  5. lash — to lash out
  6. mine — for digging
  7. file — a line of people
  8. tear — to rip
  9. spell — a short time
  10. wind — moving air
  11. lash — an eyelash
  12. staff — employees
  13. wind — moving air
  14. file — a tool
  15. file — a document
  16. spell — letters
  17. mine — an explosive
  18. lash — a whip stroke
  19. tear — from crying
  20. wind — to turn a key
  21. tear — from crying
  22. club — a group
  23. mine — belonging to me
  24. staff — a stick

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