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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. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  2. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  3. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  4. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  5. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  6. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  7. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  8. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  9. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  10. He was locked up in a ________________.
  11. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  12. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  13. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  14. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  15. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  16. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  17. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  18. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  19. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  20. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  21. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  22. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  23. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  24. The water is too ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. club — for golf
  2. bat — the animal
  3. bass — the instrument
  4. squash — to crush
  5. bass — the fish
  6. squash — the vegetable
  7. squash — the sport
  8. bass — low music
  9. club — for dancing
  10. cell — in a prison
  11. tear — from crying
  12. tear — from crying
  13. cell — in biology
  14. cell — a phone
  15. cold — an illness
  16. bat — for baseball
  17. fine — a penalty
  18. club — a group
  19. fine — high quality
  20. tear — to rip
  21. bat — in an idiom
  22. fine — all right
  23. cold — the Cold War
  24. cold — not warm

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