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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. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  2. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  3. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  4. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  5. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  6. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  7. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  8. This piece is in a major ________________.
  9. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  10. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  11. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  12. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  13. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  14. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  15. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  16. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  17. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  18. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  19. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  20. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  21. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  22. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  23. He is an ace ________________.
  24. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.

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

Answer key

  1. key — the most important part
  2. pitcher — a jug
  3. pitcher — a jug
  4. bat — in an idiom
  5. rest — what's left
  6. march — music
  7. bark — to shout
  8. key — in music
  9. bat — for baseball
  10. march — the month
  11. spring — the season
  12. spring — of water
  13. bark — a dog's sound
  14. wound — past of 'wind'
  15. key — for a lock
  16. wound — an injury
  17. bark — of a tree
  18. bat — the animal
  19. wound — an injury
  20. rest — a break
  21. spring — a coil
  22. march — the month
  23. pitcher — in baseball
  24. rest — what's left

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