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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 116 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. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  2. Have you found your soul ________________?
  3. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  4. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  5. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  6. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  7. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  8. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  9. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  10. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  11. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  12. How do you ________________ your surname?
  13. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  14. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  15. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  16. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  17. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  18. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  19. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  20. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  21. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  22. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  23. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  24. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. spring — a coil
  2. mate — a partner
  3. file — a line of people
  4. bat — in an idiom
  5. spell — a short time
  6. face — part of the head
  7. fall — the season
  8. mate — to breed
  9. fall — to drop
  10. file — a document
  11. face — to confront
  12. spell — letters
  13. capital — a city
  14. bat — the animal
  15. mate — a friend
  16. fall — to drop
  17. spring — of water
  18. capital — a big letter
  19. spring — the season
  20. bat — for baseball
  21. capital — money
  22. file — a tool
  23. face — to point toward
  24. spell — magic

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