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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: ground · cold · bat · date · pop · club · rest · key

  1. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  2. We're almost out of ________________.
  3. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  4. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  5. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  6. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  7. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  8. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  9. The water is too ________________.
  10. There's no middle ________________.
  11. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  12. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  13. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  14. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  15. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  16. You don't need to ________________ round.
  17. This piece is in a major ________________.
  18. Have you settled on a ________________?
  19. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  20. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  21. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  22. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  23. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  24. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. rest — a break
  2. pop — soda
  3. ground — the earth
  4. cold — the Cold War
  5. cold — an illness
  6. date — on the calendar
  7. bat — the animal
  8. date — the fruit
  9. cold — not warm
  10. ground — a position
  11. key — for a lock
  12. ground — crushed
  13. rest — what's left
  14. key — the most important part
  15. bat — for baseball
  16. pop — to visit
  17. key — in music
  18. date — on the calendar
  19. pop — music
  20. club — a group
  21. rest — what's left
  22. club — for dancing
  23. bat — in an idiom
  24. club — for golf

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