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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 ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  2. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  3. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  4. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  5. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  6. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  7. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  8. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  9. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  10. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  11. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  12. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  13. There's no middle ________________.
  14. Did you ________________ the meat?
  15. He is an ace ________________.
  16. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  17. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  18. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  19. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  20. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  21. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  22. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  23. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  24. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.

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

Answer key

  1. pitcher — a jug
  2. bat — for baseball
  3. ground — crushed
  4. spring — of water
  5. row — a quarrel
  6. hide — to keep secret
  7. shower — a meteor shower
  8. row — to paddle
  9. hide — animal skin
  10. shower — to wash
  11. ground — the earth
  12. shower — rain
  13. ground — a position
  14. season — to add flavour
  15. pitcher — in baseball
  16. bat — the animal
  17. season — in sport
  18. spring — the season
  19. row — a line
  20. spring — a coil
  21. season — of the year
  22. pitcher — a jug
  23. hide — to keep secret
  24. bat — in an idiom

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