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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 hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  2. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  3. That must've been a ________________.
  4. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  5. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  6. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  7. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  8. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  9. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  10. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  11. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  12. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  13. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  14. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  15. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  16. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  17. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  18. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  19. We're on a ________________ here.
  20. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  21. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  22. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  23. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  24. She had a strange look on her ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. spring — of water
  2. spring — the season
  3. rush — a thrill
  4. rush — to hurry
  5. root — of a word
  6. face — to point toward
  7. roll — a cake
  8. spring — a coil
  9. wind — moving air
  10. chest — of your body
  11. board — a committee
  12. chest — of your body
  13. wind — moving air
  14. roll — a list
  15. root — of a plant
  16. board — a flat piece
  17. root — the cause
  18. wind — to turn a key
  19. roll — on a roll
  20. rush — hurry
  21. board — to get on
  22. chest — a box
  23. face — to confront
  24. face — part of the head

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