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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. I'll be taking the ________________.
  2. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  3. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  4. My father caught me by the ________________.
  5. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  6. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  9. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  10. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  11. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  12. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  13. The water is too ________________.
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  16. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  17. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  18. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  19. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  20. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  21. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  22. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  23. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  24. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.

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

Answer key

  1. tube — the underground
  2. club — for dancing
  3. club — for golf
  4. arm — part of the body
  5. squash — the vegetable
  6. scale — in music
  7. cold — an illness
  8. bat — in an idiom
  9. squash — the sport
  10. bat — the animal
  11. bore — to tire
  12. bat — for baseball
  13. cold — not warm
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. squash — to crush
  16. scale — for weighing
  17. scale — size or range
  18. bore — gave birth
  19. arm — part of the body
  20. tube — a container
  21. tube — in a tire
  22. bore — to drill
  23. club — a group
  24. arm — a part of something

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