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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. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  3. Have you settled on a ________________?
  4. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  5. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  8. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  9. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  10. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  11. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  12. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  13. David sat on the ________________.
  14. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  15. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  16. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  17. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  18. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  19. The water is too ________________.
  20. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  21. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  22. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  23. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  24. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.

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

Answer key

  1. spring — of water
  2. track — to keep track
  3. date — on the calendar
  4. swing — music
  5. cold — the Cold War
  6. cold — an illness
  7. date — on the calendar
  8. spring — the season
  9. foot — part of the body
  10. file — a tool
  11. dip — to sink
  12. track — a song
  13. swing — to play on
  14. date — the fruit
  15. swing — in golf
  16. file — a document
  17. foot — the bottom
  18. spring — a coil
  19. cold — not warm
  20. track — a path
  21. dip — to dunk
  22. file — a line of people
  23. foot — a measure
  24. dip — a sauce

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