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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. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  2. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  3. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  4. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  5. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  6. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  7. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  8. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  9. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  10. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  11. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  12. The ________________ took off on time.
  13. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  14. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  15. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  16. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  17. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  18. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  19. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  20. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  21. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  22. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  23. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  24. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.

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

Answer key

  1. bowl — to roll
  2. mouse — for a computer
  3. club — for golf
  4. club — for dancing
  5. kid — to tease
  6. chest — of your body
  7. chest — of your body
  8. clip — a video
  9. plane — a tool
  10. bowl — a football final
  11. club — a group
  12. plane — an aircraft
  13. mouse — the animal
  14. drill — the tool
  15. bowl — a dish
  16. kid — child
  17. clip — to cut
  18. plane — in geometry
  19. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  20. clip — for paper
  21. mouse — the animal
  22. drill — a practice
  23. drill — army training
  24. chest — a box

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