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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: mine · pop · chest · sharp · track · row · key · cold

  1. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  2. It's one o'clock ________________.
  3. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  4. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  5. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  6. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  7. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  8. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  9. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  10. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  11. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  12. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  13. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  14. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  15. You don't need to ________________ round.
  16. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  17. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  18. The water is too ________________.
  19. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  20. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  21. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  22. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  23. This piece is in a major ________________.
  24. We're almost out of ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. pop — music
  2. sharp — exactly
  3. row — a line
  4. cold — the Cold War
  5. key — the most important part
  6. track — a path
  7. track — to keep track
  8. row — a quarrel
  9. sharp — with an edge
  10. sharp — clever
  11. key — for a lock
  12. mine — for digging
  13. track — a song
  14. mine — belonging to me
  15. pop — to visit
  16. mine — an explosive
  17. cold — an illness
  18. cold — not warm
  19. chest — of your body
  20. row — to paddle
  21. chest — a box
  22. chest — of your body
  23. key — in music
  24. pop — soda

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