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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. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  2. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  3. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  4. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  5. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  6. Don't do anything ________________.
  7. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  8. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  9. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  10. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  11. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  12. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  13. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  14. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  15. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  16. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  17. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  18. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  19. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  20. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  21. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  22. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  23. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  24. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.

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

Answer key

  1. spring — a coil
  2. patient — calm and waiting
  3. band — a music group
  4. squash — the vegetable
  5. band — a rubber band
  6. rash — hasty
  7. patient — a sick person
  8. net — for catching
  9. hand — part of the body
  10. net — in sport
  11. patient — a sick person
  12. rash — on the skin
  13. squash — to crush
  14. hand — help
  15. bat — in an idiom
  16. spring — the season
  17. net — after costs
  18. bat — for baseball
  19. squash — the sport
  20. spring — of water
  21. band — a ring
  22. hand — in cards
  23. bat — the animal
  24. rash — a series

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