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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: club · bat · jam · mine · ball · hand · wax · coach

  1. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  2. Would you like some apricot ________________?
  3. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  4. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  5. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  6. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  7. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  8. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  9. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  10. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  11. The bus was late because of the traffic ________________.
  12. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  13. Tom got himself in a ________________.
  14. The King held a masked ________________.
  15. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  16. Have you met the new head ________________?
  17. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  18. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  19. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  20. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  21. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  22. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  23. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  24. Do you need a ________________ with that?

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

Answer key

  1. mine — for digging
  2. jam — to spread on bread
  3. hand — in cards
  4. club — for dancing
  5. ball — a great time
  6. coach — pulled by horses
  7. wax — for sculpting
  8. club — for golf
  9. mine — an explosive
  10. wax — to grow
  11. jam — in traffic
  12. wax — in the ear
  13. jam — a tight spot
  14. ball — a dance
  15. club — a group
  16. coach — a trainer
  17. bat — the animal
  18. bat — for baseball
  19. bat — in an idiom
  20. mine — belonging to me
  21. hand — part of the body
  22. coach — a trainer
  23. ball — a round shape
  24. hand — help

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