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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 120 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. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  2. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  3. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  4. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  5. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  6. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  7. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  8. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  9. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  10. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  11. Have you met the new head ________________?
  12. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  13. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  14. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  15. False peace will not ________________.
  16. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  17. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  18. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  19. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  20. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  21. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  22. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  23. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  24. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — to tease
  2. spring — the season
  3. spring — a coil
  4. last — final
  5. last — finally
  6. pass — to succeed
  7. coach — a trainer
  8. stem — to come from
  9. pound — for dogs
  10. stem — of a plant
  11. coach — a trainer
  12. pound — to hit hard
  13. coach — pulled by horses
  14. spring — of water
  15. last — to go on
  16. pound — a weight
  17. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  18. straw — a straw man
  19. stem — a stem cell
  20. kid — child
  21. straw — dry grass
  22. pass — to spend time
  23. pass — a permit
  24. straw — to clutch at straws

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