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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. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  3. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  4. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  5. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  6. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  7. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  8. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  9. That was ________________ to happen.
  10. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  11. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  12. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  13. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  14. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  15. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  16. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  17. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  18. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  19. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  20. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  21. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  22. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  23. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  24. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.

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

Answer key

  1. spring — of water
  2. trunk — of an elephant
  3. trunk — of a car
  4. scale — size or range
  5. scale — in music
  6. present — the time now
  7. bat — in an idiom
  8. scale — for weighing
  9. bound — certain
  10. pitch — a sports field
  11. trunk — of a tree
  12. bound — tied together
  13. present — a gift
  14. pitch — completely
  15. race — the arms race
  16. bat — the animal
  17. bat — for baseball
  18. bound — obliged
  19. race — humankind
  20. spring — the season
  21. race — a contest
  22. pitch — a sales talk
  23. present — there
  24. spring — a coil

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