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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 116 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. How do you ________________ your surname?
  3. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  4. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  5. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  6. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  7. I'll be taking the ________________.
  8. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  9. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  10. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  11. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  12. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  13. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  14. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  15. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  16. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  17. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  18. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.

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

Answer key

  1. spring — of water
  2. spell — letters
  3. wind — moving air
  4. board — to get on
  5. bat — the animal
  6. spell — a short time
  7. tube — the underground
  8. wind — moving air
  9. bat — in an idiom
  10. tube — a container
  11. spring — the season
  12. spring — a coil
  13. board — a committee
  14. spell — magic
  15. wind — to turn a key
  16. tube — in a tire
  17. board — a flat piece
  18. bat — for baseball

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