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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 hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  2. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  3. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  4. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  5. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  6. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  7. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  8. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  9. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  10. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  11. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  12. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  13. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  14. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  15. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  16. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  17. That was a fun ________________.
  18. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  19. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  20. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  21. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  22. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  23. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  24. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.

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

Answer key

  1. hand — part of the body
  2. hand — in cards
  3. game — wild animals
  4. club — a group
  5. wake — to stop sleeping
  6. hand — help
  7. club — for dancing
  8. mine — belonging to me
  9. squash — to crush
  10. mine — for digging
  11. mine — an explosive
  12. squash — the sport
  13. wake — before a funeral
  14. squash — the vegetable
  15. wound — past of 'wind'
  16. wound — an injury
  17. game — a match
  18. bark — a dog's sound
  19. game — a kind of play
  20. bark — of a tree
  21. wound — an injury
  22. club — for golf
  23. wake — a trail
  24. bark — to shout

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