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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 120 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. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  2. We're almost out of ________________.
  3. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  4. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  5. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  6. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  7. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  8. He is an ace ________________.
  9. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  10. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  11. You don't need to ________________ round.
  12. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  13. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  14. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  15. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  16. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  17. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  18. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  19. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  20. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  21. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  22. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  23. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  24. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?

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

Answer key

  1. wake — before a funeral
  2. pop — soda
  3. club — a group
  4. degree — from a university
  5. bat — the animal
  6. wake — a trail
  7. lie — to recline
  8. pitcher — in baseball
  9. straw — a straw man
  10. bat — in an idiom
  11. pop — to visit
  12. club — for golf
  13. pop — music
  14. lie — an untruth
  15. club — for dancing
  16. bat — for baseball
  17. straw — to clutch at straws
  18. pitcher — a jug
  19. wake — to stop sleeping
  20. straw — dry grass
  21. degree — temperature
  22. pitcher — a jug
  23. lie — an untruth
  24. degree — an amount

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