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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 flowers bloom in the ________________.
  2. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  3. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  4. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  5. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  6. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  7. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  8. The ________________ took off on time.
  9. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  10. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  11. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  12. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  13. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  14. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  15. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  16. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  17. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  18. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?

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

Answer key

  1. spring — the season
  2. chest — of your body
  3. prune — the fruit
  4. prune — to trim
  5. prune — to trim
  6. scale — for weighing
  7. spring — of water
  8. plane — an aircraft
  9. chest — of your body
  10. spring — a coil
  11. cap — a hat
  12. plane — in geometry
  13. cap — of ice
  14. chest — a box
  15. plane — a tool
  16. scale — size or range
  17. scale — in music
  18. cap — a lid

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