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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. David sat on the ________________.
  3. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  4. False peace will not ________________.
  5. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  6. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  7. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  8. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  9. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  10. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  11. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  12. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  13. He works in a ________________ mill.
  14. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  15. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  16. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  17. The ball is in your ________________.
  18. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  19. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  20. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  21. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  22. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  23. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  24. She's very handy with a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. spring — of water
  2. swing — to play on
  3. squash — to crush
  4. last — to go on
  5. swing — in golf
  6. spring — a coil
  7. court — of a king
  8. spring — the season
  9. last — final
  10. drill — a practice
  11. saw — past of 'see'
  12. squash — the vegetable
  13. saw — the tool
  14. squash — the sport
  15. swing — music
  16. drill — army training
  17. court — for sport
  18. court — of law
  19. fork — to eat with
  20. drill — the tool
  21. fork — a garden tool
  22. last — finally
  23. fork — in a road
  24. saw — the 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