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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. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  3. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  4. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  5. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  6. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  7. He was locked up in a ________________.
  8. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  9. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  10. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  11. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  12. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  13. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  14. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  15. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  16. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  17. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  18. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  19. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  20. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  21. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  22. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  23. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  24. The tickets are free of ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. spring — of water
  2. content — videos and posts
  3. spring — a coil
  4. bat — for baseball
  5. spring — the season
  6. tear — from crying
  7. cell — in a prison
  8. tear — from crying
  9. charge — in control
  10. cell — a phone
  11. content — happy
  12. shower — rain
  13. content — the amount
  14. board — to get on
  15. cell — in biology
  16. shower — to wash
  17. bat — in an idiom
  18. bat — the animal
  19. charge — electricity
  20. tear — to rip
  21. board — a committee
  22. shower — a meteor shower
  23. board — a flat piece
  24. charge — a price

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