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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. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  2. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  3. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  4. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  5. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  6. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  7. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  8. When was this ________________ built?
  9. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  10. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  11. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  12. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  13. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  14. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  15. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  16. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  17. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  18. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  19. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  20. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  21. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  22. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  23. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  24. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.

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

Answer key

  1. shower — rain
  2. staff — employees
  3. spring — the season
  4. staff — a stick
  5. field — for sport
  6. clip — to cut
  7. field — a subject
  8. temple — a place of worship
  9. mine — for digging
  10. field — farmland
  11. shower — a meteor shower
  12. clip — for paper
  13. staff — employees
  14. temple — a place of worship
  15. spring — a coil
  16. spring — of water
  17. shower — to wash
  18. object — to protest
  19. mine — an explosive
  20. object — a thing
  21. temple — side of the head
  22. object — an aim
  23. clip — a video
  24. mine — belonging to me

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