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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. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  3. I can't ________________ this cold.
  4. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  5. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  6. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  7. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  8. That was a fun ________________.
  9. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  10. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  11. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  12. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  13. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  14. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  15. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  16. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  17. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  18. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  19. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  20. When are we going to ________________?
  21. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  22. Have you settled on a ________________?
  23. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  24. The flowers bloom in the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. spring — of water
  2. wind — moving air
  3. stand — to bear
  4. date — the fruit
  5. patient — a sick person
  6. wind — moving air
  7. land — ground
  8. game — a match
  9. patient — a sick person
  10. face — to point toward
  11. face — to confront
  12. date — on the calendar
  13. stand — on your feet
  14. spring — a coil
  15. stand — for spectators
  16. wind — to turn a key
  17. land — a country
  18. face — part of the head
  19. patient — calm and waiting
  20. land — to come down
  21. game — a kind of play
  22. date — on the calendar
  23. game — wild animals
  24. spring — the season

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