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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. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  2. When are we going to ________________?
  3. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  4. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  5. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  6. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  7. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  8. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  9. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  10. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  11. Did you ________________ the meat?
  12. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  13. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  14. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  15. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  16. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  17. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  18. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  19. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  20. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  21. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  22. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  23. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  24. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.

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

Answer key

  1. season — of the year
  2. land — to come down
  3. spring — of water
  4. spring — a coil
  5. spring — the season
  6. snap — to snap out of it
  7. rest — what's left
  8. rest — a break
  9. rest — what's left
  10. march — the month
  11. season — to add flavour
  12. snap — to speak sharply
  13. land — ground
  14. clip — to cut
  15. net — after costs
  16. clip — a video
  17. net — for catching
  18. land — a country
  19. net — in sport
  20. season — in sport
  21. march — music
  22. march — the month
  23. clip — for paper
  24. snap — to click

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

Make a worksheet (0 words)

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