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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 120 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 flowers bloom in the ________________.
  2. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  3. There's no middle ________________.
  4. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  5. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  6. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  7. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  8. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  9. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  10. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  11. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  12. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  13. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  14. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  15. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  16. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  17. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  18. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  19. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  20. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  21. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  22. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  23. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  24. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. spring — the season
  2. ground — the earth
  3. ground — a position
  4. shower — to wash
  5. shower — rain
  6. hand — in cards
  7. chair — a professorship
  8. chair — a leader
  9. spring — of water
  10. chair — to sit on
  11. deal — a big deal
  12. deal — to handle
  13. hand — help
  14. ground — crushed
  15. file — a document
  16. spring — a coil
  17. hand — part of the body
  18. deal — an agreement
  19. file — a line of people
  20. shower — a meteor shower
  21. trunk — of a tree
  22. trunk — of a car
  23. trunk — of an elephant
  24. file — a tool

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