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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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Word bank
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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. How do you ________________ your surname?
  2. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  3. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  4. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  5. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  6. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  7. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  8. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  9. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  10. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  11. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  12. That must've been a ________________.
  13. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  14. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  15. The water is too ________________.
  16. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  17. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  18. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  19. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  20. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  21. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  22. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  23. That was a fun ________________.
  24. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?

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

Answer key

  1. spell — letters
  2. rush — hurry
  3. rule — to rule out
  4. spring — the season
  5. rush — to hurry
  6. spell — magic
  7. game — wild animals
  8. game — a kind of play
  9. spell — a short time
  10. rule — a law
  11. field — for sport
  12. rush — a thrill
  13. lash — to lash out
  14. lash — a whip stroke
  15. cold — not warm
  16. cold — the Cold War
  17. cold — an illness
  18. field — farmland
  19. spring — a coil
  20. field — a subject
  21. lash — an eyelash
  22. spring — of water
  23. game — a match
  24. rule — government

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