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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. We're almost out of ________________.
  2. You don't need to ________________ round.
  3. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  4. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  5. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  6. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  7. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  8. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  9. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  10. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  11. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  12. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  13. He was locked up in a ________________.
  14. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  15. Have you found your soul ________________?
  16. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  17. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  18. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  19. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  20. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  21. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  22. He is an ace ________________.
  23. That was a fun ________________.
  24. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.

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

Answer key

  1. pop — soda
  2. pop — to visit
  3. spring — a coil
  4. chest — of your body
  5. mate — a friend
  6. cell — a phone
  7. mark — a trace
  8. cell — in biology
  9. mark — a grade
  10. pop — music
  11. chest — of your body
  12. game — wild animals
  13. cell — in a prison
  14. spring — the season
  15. mate — a partner
  16. pitcher — a jug
  17. game — a kind of play
  18. spring — of water
  19. chest — a box
  20. mark — to pay attention
  21. mate — to breed
  22. pitcher — in baseball
  23. game — a match
  24. pitcher — a jug

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