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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 120 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. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  3. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  4. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  5. Have you found your soul ________________?
  6. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  7. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  8. The ________________ market has crashed.
  9. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  10. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  11. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  12. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  13. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  14. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  15. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  16. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  17. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  18. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  19. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  20. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  21. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  22. I'll be taking the ________________.
  23. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  24. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. spring — of water
  2. shower — to wash
  3. track — to keep track
  4. kid — to tease
  5. mate — a partner
  6. tube — in a tire
  7. shower — rain
  8. stock — shares
  9. stock — goods
  10. mate — to breed
  11. spring — the season
  12. kid — child
  13. race — a contest
  14. race — humankind
  15. track — a song
  16. track — a path
  17. mate — a friend
  18. spring — a coil
  19. tube — a container
  20. race — the arms race
  21. stock — a soup base
  22. tube — the underground
  23. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  24. shower — a meteor shower

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