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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. Did you ________________ the meat?
  2. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  3. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  4. That was ________________ to happen.
  5. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  6. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  7. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  8. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  9. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  10. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  11. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  12. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  13. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  14. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  15. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  16. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  17. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  18. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  19. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  20. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  21. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  22. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  23. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  24. That was a fun ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. season — to add flavour
  2. game — wild animals
  3. hand — part of the body
  4. bound — certain
  5. row — a line
  6. hand — help
  7. spring — the season
  8. bear — the animal
  9. chest — of your body
  10. chest — a box
  11. bear — to put up with
  12. season — of the year
  13. spring — of water
  14. spring — a coil
  15. chest — of your body
  16. bear — the animal
  17. bound — obliged
  18. row — to paddle
  19. hand — in cards
  20. row — a quarrel
  21. game — a kind of play
  22. bound — tied together
  23. season — in sport
  24. game — a match

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