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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: hand · wind · stick · chest · snap · stem · pop · club

  1. You don't need to ________________ round.
  2. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  3. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  4. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  5. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  6. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  7. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  8. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  9. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  10. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  11. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  12. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  13. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  14. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  15. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  16. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  17. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  18. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  19. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  20. We're almost out of ________________.
  21. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  22. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  23. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  24. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. pop — to visit
  2. hand — help
  3. club — for dancing
  4. pop — music
  5. chest — a box
  6. chest — of your body
  7. hand — in cards
  8. stick — a piece of wood
  9. hand — part of the body
  10. stick — a piece of wood
  11. snap — to click
  12. club — for golf
  13. wind — moving air
  14. stem — to come from
  15. club — a group
  16. snap — to snap out of it
  17. stem — a stem cell
  18. wind — to turn a key
  19. chest — of your body
  20. pop — soda
  21. wind — moving air
  22. snap — to speak sharply
  23. stick — to attach or keep to
  24. stem — of a plant

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