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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. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  2. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  3. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  4. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  5. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  6. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  7. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  8. Close the lid of the trash can to keep odors and pests at ________________.
  9. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  10. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  11. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  12. The water is too ________________.
  13. The sailing ship dropped anchor in the ________________.
  14. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  15. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  16. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  17. The ________________ market has crashed.
  18. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  19. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  20. There's no middle ________________.
  21. This piece is in a major ________________.
  22. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  23. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  24. My mare is ________________ in color.

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

Answer key

  1. key — the most important part
  2. club — for dancing
  3. club — for golf
  4. rock — a stone
  5. club — a group
  6. key — for a lock
  7. trunk — of a car
  8. bay — to keep at bay
  9. rock — music
  10. ground — crushed
  11. rock — to move gently
  12. cold — not warm
  13. bay — a part of the sea
  14. trunk — of a tree
  15. cold — the Cold War
  16. stock — goods
  17. stock — shares
  18. stock — a soup base
  19. ground — the earth
  20. ground — a position
  21. key — in music
  22. trunk — of an elephant
  23. cold — an illness
  24. bay — a horse colour

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