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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: club · wind · race · bowl · degree · bore · hide · snap

  1. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  2. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  3. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  4. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  5. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  6. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  7. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  8. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  9. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  10. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  11. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  12. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  13. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  14. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  15. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  16. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  17. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  18. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  19. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  20. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  21. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  22. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  23. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  24. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.

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

Answer key

  1. snap — to speak sharply
  2. bore — to tire
  3. bowl — a football final
  4. club — for dancing
  5. bore — gave birth
  6. club — for golf
  7. hide — to keep secret
  8. bowl — to roll
  9. race — a contest
  10. wind — moving air
  11. wind — to turn a key
  12. race — humankind
  13. club — a group
  14. degree — an amount
  15. wind — moving air
  16. degree — from a university
  17. snap — to snap out of it
  18. bowl — a dish
  19. race — the arms race
  20. hide — to keep secret
  21. hide — animal skin
  22. bore — to drill
  23. degree — temperature
  24. snap — to click

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