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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 124 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. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  3. We're almost out of ________________.
  4. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  5. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  6. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  7. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  8. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  9. The King held a masked ________________.
  10. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  11. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  12. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  13. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  14. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  15. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  16. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  17. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  18. The water is too ________________.
  19. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  20. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  21. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  22. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  23. You don't need to ________________ round.
  24. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. club — for golf
  2. foot — a measure
  3. pop — soda
  4. foot — the bottom
  5. ball — a round shape
  6. snap — to speak sharply
  7. snap — to click
  8. ball — a great time
  9. ball — a dance
  10. content — happy
  11. snap — to snap out of it
  12. spring — of water
  13. foot — part of the body
  14. club — a group
  15. cold — an illness
  16. club — for dancing
  17. spring — the season
  18. cold — not warm
  19. spring — a coil
  20. pop — music
  21. content — the amount
  22. cold — the Cold War
  23. pop — to visit
  24. content — videos and posts

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