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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 116 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. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  2. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  3. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  4. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  5. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  6. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  7. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  8. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  9. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  10. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  11. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  12. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  13. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  16. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  17. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  18. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  19. The water is too ________________.
  20. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  21. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  22. When are we going to ________________?
  23. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  24. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.

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

Answer key

  1. shower — to wash
  2. pitch — a sports field
  3. pitch — completely
  4. club — for golf
  5. pitch — a sales talk
  6. shower — a meteor shower
  7. club — for dancing
  8. kick — with a leg
  9. land — a country
  10. staff — employees
  11. club — a group
  12. hand — in cards
  13. kick — a thrill
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. staff — a stick
  16. hand — part of the body
  17. shower — rain
  18. hand — help
  19. cold — not warm
  20. staff — employees
  21. cold — an illness
  22. land — to come down
  23. land — ground
  24. kick — in football

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