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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. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  2. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  3. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  4. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  5. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  6. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  7. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  8. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  9. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  10. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  11. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  12. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  13. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  14. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  15. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  16. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  17. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  18. I'll be taking the ________________.
  19. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  20. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  21. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  22. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  23. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  24. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.

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

Answer key

  1. spring — a coil
  2. pit — a fruit stone
  3. content — the amount
  4. tube — a container
  5. prune — to trim
  6. spring — the season
  7. fan — a supporter
  8. march — the month
  9. content — happy
  10. pit — a hole
  11. prune — to trim
  12. march — the month
  13. fan — a supporter
  14. prune — the fruit
  15. march — music
  16. content — videos and posts
  17. fan — to cool the air
  18. tube — the underground
  19. wind — to turn a key
  20. tube — in a tire
  21. pit — in a race
  22. wind — moving air
  23. spring — of water
  24. wind — moving air

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