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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. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  2. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  3. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  4. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  5. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  6. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  7. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  8. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  9. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  10. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  11. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  12. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  13. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  14. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  15. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  16. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  17. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  18. How do you ________________ your surname?
  19. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  20. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  21. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  22. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  23. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  24. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.

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

Answer key

  1. squash — the sport
  2. dip — to sink
  3. club — for golf
  4. bat — the animal
  5. club — for dancing
  6. spell — a short time
  7. drill — a practice
  8. mine — for digging
  9. prune — the fruit
  10. drill — the tool
  11. spell — magic
  12. bat — for baseball
  13. club — a group
  14. squash — to crush
  15. mine — belonging to me
  16. dip — a sauce
  17. prune — to trim
  18. spell — letters
  19. drill — army training
  20. bat — in an idiom
  21. dip — to dunk
  22. mine — an explosive
  23. prune — to trim
  24. squash — the vegetable

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