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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 116 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. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  2. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  3. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. David sat on the ________________.
  6. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  7. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  8. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  9. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  10. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  11. When are we going to ________________?
  12. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  13. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  14. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  15. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  16. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  17. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  18. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  19. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  20. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  21. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  22. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  23. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  24. The water is too ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. present — there
  2. swing — in golf
  3. file — a document
  4. cold — an illness
  5. swing — to play on
  6. mouse — the animal
  7. spring — the season
  8. scale — for weighing
  9. scale — in music
  10. spring — a coil
  11. land — to come down
  12. scale — size or range
  13. land — a country
  14. present — the time now
  15. file — a tool
  16. mouse — the animal
  17. swing — music
  18. land — ground
  19. present — a gift
  20. cold — the Cold War
  21. spring — of water
  22. mouse — for a computer
  23. file — a line of people
  24. cold — not warm

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