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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. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  3. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  4. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  5. The ________________ market has crashed.
  6. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  7. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  8. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  9. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  10. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  11. David sat on the ________________.
  12. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  13. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  14. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  15. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  16. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  17. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  18. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  19. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  20. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  21. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  22. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  23. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  24. What's the difference between broth and ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. club — for golf
  2. hand — help
  3. wind — to turn a key
  4. snap — to click
  5. stock — shares
  6. wind — moving air
  7. stock — goods
  8. drill — the tool
  9. club — for dancing
  10. scale — for weighing
  11. swing — to play on
  12. swing — music
  13. wind — moving air
  14. hand — in cards
  15. hand — part of the body
  16. club — a group
  17. swing — in golf
  18. snap — to speak sharply
  19. scale — size or range
  20. snap — to snap out of it
  21. scale — in music
  22. drill — army training
  23. drill — a practice
  24. stock — a soup base

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