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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. The water is too ________________.
  3. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  4. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  5. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  6. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  7. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  8. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  9. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  10. The ball is in your ________________.
  11. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  12. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  13. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  14. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  15. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  16. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  17. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  18. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  19. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  20. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  21. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  22. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  23. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  24. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.

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

Answer key

  1. club — for golf
  2. cold — not warm
  3. fine — a penalty
  4. clip — for paper
  5. court — of law
  6. clip — a video
  7. club — a group
  8. snap — to click
  9. pitch — a sports field
  10. court — for sport
  11. snap — to snap out of it
  12. snap — to speak sharply
  13. hand — in cards
  14. hand — help
  15. pitch — a sales talk
  16. clip — to cut
  17. hand — part of the body
  18. fine — all right
  19. cold — the Cold War
  20. pitch — completely
  21. club — for dancing
  22. cold — an illness
  23. fine — high quality
  24. court — of a king

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