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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. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  3. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  4. I've got to change the light ________________.
  5. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  6. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  7. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  8. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  9. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  10. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  11. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  12. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  13. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  14. He is an ace ________________.
  15. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  16. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  17. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  18. That was a fun ________________.
  19. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  20. The light ________________ burned out.
  21. The water is too ________________.
  22. David sat on the ________________.
  23. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  24. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.

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

Answer key

  1. spring — of water
  2. cold — an illness
  3. chair — a professorship
  4. bulb — for light
  5. spring — a coil
  6. chair — to sit on
  7. pitcher — a jug
  8. swing — music
  9. swing — in golf
  10. game — wild animals
  11. pitcher — a jug
  12. game — a kind of play
  13. rule — government
  14. pitcher — in baseball
  15. spring — the season
  16. cold — the Cold War
  17. rule — a law
  18. game — a match
  19. chair — a leader
  20. bulb — for light
  21. cold — not warm
  22. swing — to play on
  23. bulb — of a plant
  24. rule — to rule out

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