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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 old man leaned on his ________________.
  2. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  3. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  4. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  5. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  6. False peace will not ________________.
  7. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  8. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  9. He was locked up in a ________________.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. We're almost out of ________________.
  12. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  13. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  14. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  15. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  16. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  17. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  18. You don't need to ________________ round.
  19. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  20. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  21. The water is too ________________.
  22. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  23. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  24. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.

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

Answer key

  1. staff — a stick
  2. spring — of water
  3. staff — employees
  4. spring — a coil
  5. spring — the season
  6. last — to go on
  7. staff — employees
  8. cell — a phone
  9. cell — in a prison
  10. cold — an illness
  11. pop — soda
  12. wind — moving air
  13. cold — the Cold War
  14. last — finally
  15. cell — in biology
  16. race — a contest
  17. wind — to turn a key
  18. pop — to visit
  19. race — humankind
  20. last — final
  21. cold — not warm
  22. wind — moving air
  23. race — the arms race
  24. pop — music

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