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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 flowers bloom in the ________________.
  2. I can't ________________ this cold.
  3. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  4. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  5. We're on a ________________ here.
  6. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  7. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  8. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  9. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  10. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  11. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  12. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  13. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  14. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  15. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  16. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  17. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  18. Have you settled on a ________________?
  19. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  20. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  21. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  22. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  23. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  24. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.

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

Answer key

  1. spring — the season
  2. stand — to bear
  3. roll — a list
  4. stand — for spectators
  5. roll — on a roll
  6. spring — a coil
  7. date — the fruit
  8. file — a tool
  9. trunk — of a tree
  10. roll — a cake
  11. file — a document
  12. trunk — of an elephant
  13. leaves — lets stay
  14. straw — to clutch at straws
  15. stand — on your feet
  16. file — a line of people
  17. straw — dry grass
  18. date — on the calendar
  19. trunk — of a car
  20. leaves — of a tree
  21. date — on the calendar
  22. leaves — to go away
  23. spring — of water
  24. straw — a straw man

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