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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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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 · shower · foot · pound · spring · snap · file · chair

  1. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  2. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  3. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  4. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  5. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  6. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  7. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  8. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  9. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  10. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  11. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  12. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  13. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  14. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  15. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  16. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  17. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  18. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  19. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  20. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  21. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  22. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  23. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  24. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. snap — to click
  2. pound — a weight
  3. snap — to snap out of it
  4. snap — to speak sharply
  5. shower — rain
  6. club — for golf
  7. pound — to hit hard
  8. club — a group
  9. spring — a coil
  10. file — a line of people
  11. pound — for dogs
  12. file — a tool
  13. chair — to sit on
  14. shower — to wash
  15. spring — of water
  16. chair — a leader
  17. foot — a measure
  18. chair — a professorship
  19. foot — the bottom
  20. spring — the season
  21. file — a document
  22. club — for dancing
  23. foot — part of the body
  24. shower — a meteor shower

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