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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. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  2. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  3. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  4. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  5. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  6. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  7. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  8. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  9. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  10. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  11. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  12. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  13. He was locked up in a ________________.
  14. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  15. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  16. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  17. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  18. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  19. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  20. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  21. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  22. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  23. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  24. I got dealt a bad ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. spring — of water
  2. cell — a phone
  3. content — videos and posts
  4. content — happy
  5. dip — to dunk
  6. cell — in biology
  7. hand — part of the body
  8. cap — a lid
  9. cap — of ice
  10. dip — a sauce
  11. lash — an eyelash
  12. chest — of your body
  13. cell — in a prison
  14. lash — a whip stroke
  15. lash — to lash out
  16. spring — a coil
  17. chest — of your body
  18. hand — help
  19. spring — the season
  20. dip — to sink
  21. content — the amount
  22. chest — a box
  23. cap — a hat
  24. hand — in cards

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