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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: chest · wound · club · bat · bore · deal · spring · swing

  1. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  2. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  3. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  4. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  5. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  6. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  7. David sat on the ________________.
  8. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  9. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  10. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  11. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  12. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  13. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  14. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  15. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  16. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  17. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  18. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  19. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  20. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  21. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  22. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  23. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  24. We ________________ up on opposing sides.

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

Answer key

  1. deal — to handle
  2. bore — gave birth
  3. club — for dancing
  4. spring — a coil
  5. club — for golf
  6. spring — the season
  7. swing — to play on
  8. bat — the animal
  9. bore — to tire
  10. wound — an injury
  11. chest — a box
  12. bat — in an idiom
  13. chest — of your body
  14. spring — of water
  15. deal — a big deal
  16. swing — in golf
  17. chest — of your body
  18. bat — for baseball
  19. club — a group
  20. bore — to drill
  21. wound — an injury
  22. deal — an agreement
  23. swing — music
  24. wound — past of 'wind'

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