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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 ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  2. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  3. How do you ________________ your surname?
  4. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  5. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  6. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  7. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  8. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  9. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  10. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  11. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  12. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  13. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  14. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  15. He was locked up in a ________________.
  16. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  17. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  18. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  19. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  20. That was a fun ________________.
  21. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  22. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  23. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  24. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.

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

Answer key

  1. dip — a sauce
  2. trunk — of a car
  3. spell — letters
  4. spring — a coil
  5. march — music
  6. spring — the season
  7. cell — in biology
  8. trunk — of a tree
  9. game — wild animals
  10. face — to point toward
  11. cell — a phone
  12. spell — a short time
  13. dip — to dunk
  14. march — the month
  15. cell — in a prison
  16. face — to confront
  17. dip — to sink
  18. spell — magic
  19. trunk — of an elephant
  20. game — a match
  21. spring — of water
  22. face — part of the head
  23. game — a kind of play
  24. march — the month

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