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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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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: pop · bat · club · mine · lie · sharp · scale · cell

  1. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  2. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  3. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  4. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  5. We're almost out of ________________.
  6. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  7. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  8. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  9. It's one o'clock ________________.
  10. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  11. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  12. He was locked up in a ________________.
  13. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  14. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  15. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  16. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  17. You don't need to ________________ round.
  18. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  19. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  20. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  21. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  22. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  23. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  24. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. scale — size or range
  2. club — a group
  3. sharp — with an edge
  4. mine — for digging
  5. pop — soda
  6. pop — music
  7. scale — in music
  8. sharp — clever
  9. sharp — exactly
  10. lie — an untruth
  11. lie — an untruth
  12. cell — in a prison
  13. lie — to recline
  14. bat — the animal
  15. bat — in an idiom
  16. club — for dancing
  17. pop — to visit
  18. mine — belonging to me
  19. cell — in biology
  20. cell — a phone
  21. bat — for baseball
  22. mine — an explosive
  23. scale — for weighing
  24. club — for golf

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