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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. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  2. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  3. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  4. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  5. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  6. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  7. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  8. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  9. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  10. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  11. The ________________ market has crashed.
  12. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  13. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  14. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  15. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  16. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  17. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  18. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  19. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  20. Have you found your soul ________________?
  21. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  22. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  23. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  24. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.

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

Answer key

  1. mate — to breed
  2. spring — of water
  3. squash — the sport
  4. squash — to crush
  5. wind — to turn a key
  6. stock — a soup base
  7. stock — goods
  8. mate — a friend
  9. squash — the vegetable
  10. kick — with a leg
  11. stock — shares
  12. spring — a coil
  13. hand — part of the body
  14. wind — moving air
  15. wind — moving air
  16. hand — help
  17. hand — in cards
  18. vault — a safe
  19. vault — in gymnastics
  20. mate — a partner
  21. spring — the season
  22. vault — an arched ceiling
  23. kick — a thrill
  24. kick — in football

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