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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: pit · club · fall · saw · clip · suit · coach · land

  1. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  2. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  3. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  4. Positive actions can inspire others to follow ________________.
  5. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  6. When will it ________________ you to start?
  7. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  8. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  9. She's very handy with a ________________.
  10. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  11. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  12. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  13. The cuffs of his ________________ jacket are badly frayed.
  14. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  15. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  16. He works in a ________________ mill.
  17. Have you met the new head ________________?
  18. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  19. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  20. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  21. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  22. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  23. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  24. When are we going to ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. club — for golf
  2. clip — a video
  3. fall — to drop
  4. suit — in cards
  5. club — a group
  6. suit — to fit
  7. club — for dancing
  8. land — a country
  9. saw — the tool
  10. land — ground
  11. fall — to drop
  12. pit — a fruit stone
  13. suit — clothes
  14. clip — to cut
  15. pit — a hole
  16. saw — the tool
  17. coach — a trainer
  18. clip — for paper
  19. coach — pulled by horses
  20. saw — past of 'see'
  21. coach — a trainer
  22. fall — the season
  23. pit — in a race
  24. land — to come down

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