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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 120 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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Word bank
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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: season · shower · chest · scale · club · mine · track · file

  1. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  2. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  3. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  4. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  5. Did you ________________ the meat?
  6. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  7. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  8. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  9. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  10. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  11. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  12. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  13. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  14. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  15. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  16. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  17. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  18. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  19. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  20. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  21. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  22. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  23. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  24. Spring is a pleasant ________________.

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. shower — rain
  4. shower — a meteor shower
  5. season — to add flavour
  6. shower — to wash
  7. mine — for digging
  8. club — for golf
  9. scale — in music
  10. scale — size or range
  11. track — a song
  12. club — a group
  13. file — a tool
  14. mine — belonging to me
  15. mine — an explosive
  16. chest — of your body
  17. file — a line of people
  18. track — to keep track
  19. scale — for weighing
  20. track — a path
  21. season — in sport
  22. file — a document
  23. chest — a box
  24. season — of the year

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