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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 pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  2. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  3. That was a fun ________________.
  4. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  5. She works as an advertiser at a New Jersey ________________.
  6. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  7. The water is too ________________.
  8. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  9. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  10. Nothing provides more peace of mind than a ________________ decision.
  11. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  12. This piece is in a major ________________.
  13. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  14. I'll stand ________________ for what I deserve.
  15. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  16. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  17. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  18. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  19. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  20. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  21. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  22. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  23. The ________________ took off on time.
  24. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.

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

Answer key

  1. game — wild animals
  2. spring — the season
  3. game — a match
  4. spring — a coil
  5. firm — a company
  6. cold — the Cold War
  7. cold — not warm
  8. cold — an illness
  9. wound — an injury
  10. firm — decided
  11. march — the month
  12. key — in music
  13. wound — an injury
  14. firm — steady
  15. wound — past of 'wind'
  16. game — a kind of play
  17. spring — of water
  18. march — music
  19. key — the most important part
  20. key — for a lock
  21. march — the month
  22. plane — in geometry
  23. plane — an aircraft
  24. plane — a tool

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