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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. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  3. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  4. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  5. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  6. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  7. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  8. The ________________ market has crashed.
  9. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  10. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  11. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  12. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  13. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  14. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  15. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  16. When are we going to ________________?
  17. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  18. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  19. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  20. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  21. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  22. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  23. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  24. He is as ________________ as a wolf.

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

Answer key

  1. spring — of water
  2. lean — to bend
  3. stock — a soup base
  4. wake — to stop sleeping
  5. cap — a hat
  6. stock — goods
  7. vault — a safe
  8. stock — shares
  9. land — ground
  10. row — a quarrel
  11. wake — a trail
  12. vault — an arched ceiling
  13. land — a country
  14. spring — a coil
  15. cap — of ice
  16. land — to come down
  17. row — to paddle
  18. row — a line
  19. lean — to rest against
  20. wake — before a funeral
  21. cap — a lid
  22. spring — the season
  23. vault — in gymnastics
  24. lean — thin

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