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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: club · ball · bound · snap · game · pop · deal · clip

  1. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  2. You don't need to ________________ round.
  3. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  4. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  5. That was ________________ to happen.
  6. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  7. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  8. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  9. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  10. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  11. That was a fun ________________.
  12. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  13. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  14. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  15. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  16. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  17. We're almost out of ________________.
  18. The King held a masked ________________.
  19. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  20. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  21. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  22. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  23. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  24. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.

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

Answer key

  1. game — a kind of play
  2. pop — to visit
  3. bound — obliged
  4. deal — an agreement
  5. bound — certain
  6. bound — tied together
  7. pop — music
  8. ball — a great time
  9. club — for golf
  10. clip — a video
  11. game — a match
  12. snap — to click
  13. clip — for paper
  14. ball — a round shape
  15. game — wild animals
  16. clip — to cut
  17. pop — soda
  18. ball — a dance
  19. deal — to handle
  20. snap — to speak sharply
  21. snap — to snap out of it
  22. club — a group
  23. deal — a big deal
  24. club — for dancing

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