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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 in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  2. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  3. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  4. When are we going to ________________?
  5. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  6. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  7. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  8. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  9. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  10. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  11. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  12. I'll be taking the ________________.
  13. How do you ________________ your surname?
  14. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  15. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  16. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  17. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  18. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.

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

Answer key

  1. spring — of water
  2. spell — a short time
  3. march — music
  4. land — to come down
  5. land — ground
  6. spring — the season
  7. march — the month
  8. spell — magic
  9. tube — in a tire
  10. land — a country
  11. fork — a garden tool
  12. tube — the underground
  13. spell — letters
  14. spring — a coil
  15. fork — in a road
  16. tube — a container
  17. march — the month
  18. fork — to eat with

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