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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. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  2. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  3. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  4. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  5. How do you ________________ your surname?
  6. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  7. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  8. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  9. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  10. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  11. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  12. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  13. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  14. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  15. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  16. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  17. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  18. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  19. David sat on the ________________.
  20. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  21. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  22. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  23. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  24. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.

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

Answer key

  1. net — in sport
  2. swing — in golf
  3. spring — of water
  4. snap — to click
  5. spell — letters
  6. club — for dancing
  7. spring — a coil
  8. bat — in an idiom
  9. mark — a trace
  10. bat — the animal
  11. spring — the season
  12. snap — to snap out of it
  13. spell — a short time
  14. club — for golf
  15. mark — to pay attention
  16. net — after costs
  17. mark — a grade
  18. snap — to speak sharply
  19. swing — to play on
  20. net — for catching
  21. bat — for baseball
  22. spell — magic
  23. club — a group
  24. swing — music

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