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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. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  2. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  3. The water is too ________________.
  4. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  5. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  6. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  7. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  8. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  9. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  10. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  11. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  12. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  13. Don't do anything ________________.
  14. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  15. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  16. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  17. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  18. David sat on the ________________.
  19. Have you met the new head ________________?
  20. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  21. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  22. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  23. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  24. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.

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

Answer key

  1. racket — for tennis
  2. spring — of water
  3. cold — not warm
  4. coach — a trainer
  5. racket — for tennis
  6. hand — in cards
  7. cold — the Cold War
  8. rash — on the skin
  9. leaves — lets stay
  10. rash — a series
  11. hand — help
  12. cold — an illness
  13. rash — hasty
  14. racket — a loud noise
  15. swing — in golf
  16. spring — a coil
  17. leaves — of a tree
  18. swing — to play on
  19. coach — a trainer
  20. coach — pulled by horses
  21. leaves — to go away
  22. hand — part of the body
  23. spring — the season
  24. swing — music

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