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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 from the word bank in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

Word bank: court · squash · chest · wind · present · club

  1. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  2. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  3. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  4. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  5. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  6. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  7. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  8. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  9. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  10. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  11. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  12. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  13. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  14. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  15. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  16. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  17. The ball is in your ________________.
  18. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.

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

Answer key

  1. club — for dancing
  2. chest — of your body
  3. club — for golf
  4. court — of a king
  5. squash — the sport
  6. wind — to turn a key
  7. present — there
  8. wind — moving air
  9. wind — moving air
  10. present — the time now
  11. squash — the vegetable
  12. squash — to crush
  13. present — a gift
  14. club — a group
  15. chest — a box
  16. chest — of your body
  17. court — for sport
  18. court — of law

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