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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 120 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. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  3. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  4. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  5. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  6. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  7. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  8. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  9. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  10. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  11. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  12. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  13. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  14. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  15. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  16. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  17. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  18. Have you found your soul ________________?
  19. That was ________________ to happen.
  20. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  21. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  22. The water is too ________________.
  23. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  24. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.

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

Answer key

  1. spring — of water
  2. spring — a coil
  3. chest — of your body
  4. shower — a meteor shower
  5. cold — the Cold War
  6. chest — of your body
  7. spring — the season
  8. chest — a box
  9. bound — obliged
  10. bound — tied together
  11. mate — a friend
  12. mate — to breed
  13. shower — to wash
  14. leaves — lets stay
  15. leaves — to go away
  16. mark — to pay attention
  17. mark — a grade
  18. mate — a partner
  19. bound — certain
  20. mark — a trace
  21. leaves — of a tree
  22. cold — not warm
  23. shower — rain
  24. cold — an illness

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