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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. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  3. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  4. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  5. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  6. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  7. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  8. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  9. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  10. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  11. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  12. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  13. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  14. The light ________________ burned out.
  15. I've got to change the light ________________.
  16. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  17. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  18. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  19. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  20. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  21. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  22. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  23. How do you ________________ your surname?
  24. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. spring — of water
  2. kid — to tease
  3. board — a committee
  4. stick — a piece of wood
  5. kid — child
  6. spring — the season
  7. board — a flat piece
  8. stick — a piece of wood
  9. hand — help
  10. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  11. bulb — of a plant
  12. mine — an explosive
  13. hand — part of the body
  14. bulb — for light
  15. bulb — for light
  16. mine — belonging to me
  17. hand — in cards
  18. spell — a short time
  19. spring — a coil
  20. mine — for digging
  21. stick — to attach or keep to
  22. board — to get on
  23. spell — letters
  24. spell — magic

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