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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. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  3. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  4. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  5. The water is too ________________.
  6. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  7. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  8. Tom got himself in a ________________.
  9. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  10. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  11. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  12. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  13. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  14. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  15. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  16. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  17. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  18. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  19. Would you like some apricot ________________?
  20. Have you settled on a ________________?
  21. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  22. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  23. The bus was late because of the traffic ________________.
  24. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.

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

Answer key

  1. spring — of water
  2. spring — the season
  3. wind — moving air
  4. pit — a hole
  5. cold — not warm
  6. chest — of your body
  7. chest — a box
  8. jam — a tight spot
  9. cold — an illness
  10. cold — the Cold War
  11. wind — moving air
  12. date — the fruit
  13. wind — to turn a key
  14. drill — the tool
  15. drill — a practice
  16. pit — in a race
  17. spring — a coil
  18. pit — a fruit stone
  19. jam — to spread on bread
  20. date — on the calendar
  21. chest — of your body
  22. date — on the calendar
  23. jam — in traffic
  24. drill — army training

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