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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 hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  2. Have you found your soul ________________?
  3. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  4. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  5. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  6. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  7. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  8. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  9. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  10. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  11. Did you ________________ the meat?
  12. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  13. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  14. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  15. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  16. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  17. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  18. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  19. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  20. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  21. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  22. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  23. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  24. The water is too ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. spring — of water
  2. mate — a partner
  3. net — in sport
  4. bowl — a dish
  5. bowl — a football final
  6. mate — a friend
  7. dip — to dunk
  8. cold — the Cold War
  9. spring — the season
  10. season — of the year
  11. season — to add flavour
  12. wind — to turn a key
  13. bowl — to roll
  14. cold — an illness
  15. wind — moving air
  16. season — in sport
  17. wind — moving air
  18. spring — a coil
  19. net — for catching
  20. mate — to breed
  21. dip — to sink
  22. dip — a sauce
  23. net — after costs
  24. cold — not warm

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