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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 was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  2. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  3. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  4. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  5. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  6. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  7. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  8. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  9. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  10. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  11. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  12. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  13. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  14. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  15. The King held a masked ________________.
  16. She's very handy with a ________________.
  17. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  18. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  19. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  20. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  21. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  22. He works in a ________________ mill.
  23. He is an ace ________________.
  24. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.

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

Answer key

  1. ball — a great time
  2. pitcher — a jug
  3. rest — what's left
  4. club — for dancing
  5. fan — a supporter
  6. club — for golf
  7. rest — what's left
  8. fan — a supporter
  9. club — a group
  10. rest — a break
  11. clip — a video
  12. fan — to cool the air
  13. mine — for digging
  14. saw — past of 'see'
  15. ball — a dance
  16. saw — the tool
  17. clip — to cut
  18. mine — belonging to me
  19. ball — a round shape
  20. clip — for paper
  21. mine — an explosive
  22. saw — the tool
  23. pitcher — in baseball
  24. pitcher — a jug

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