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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 hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  2. David sat on the ________________.
  3. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  4. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  5. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  6. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  7. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  8. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  9. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  10. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  11. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  12. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  13. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  14. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  15. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  16. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  17. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  18. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  19. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  20. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  21. How do you ________________ your surname?
  22. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  23. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  24. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.

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

Answer key

  1. spring — of water
  2. swing — to play on
  3. spell — magic
  4. bat — the animal
  5. spring — the season
  6. snap — to click
  7. mark — to pay attention
  8. snap — to snap out of it
  9. bat — in an idiom
  10. pass — a permit
  11. swing — in golf
  12. wound — an injury
  13. bat — for baseball
  14. mark — a trace
  15. wound — past of 'wind'
  16. spring — a coil
  17. swing — music
  18. snap — to speak sharply
  19. mark — a grade
  20. pass — to succeed
  21. spell — letters
  22. wound — an injury
  23. spell — a short time
  24. pass — to spend time

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