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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. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  2. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  3. What do you think of the new ________________?
  4. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  5. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  6. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  7. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  8. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  9. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  10. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  11. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  12. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  13. When are we going to ________________?
  14. That was a fun ________________.
  15. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  16. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  17. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  18. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  19. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  20. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  21. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  22. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  23. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  24. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.

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

Answer key

  1. cabinet — ministers
  2. spring — a coil
  3. cabinet — ministers
  4. spring — of water
  5. racket — a loud noise
  6. root — of a plant
  7. root — of a word
  8. cabinet — a cupboard
  9. fall — the season
  10. spring — the season
  11. fall — to drop
  12. fall — to drop
  13. land — to come down
  14. game — a match
  15. shower — rain
  16. game — wild animals
  17. game — a kind of play
  18. land — ground
  19. root — the cause
  20. land — a country
  21. shower — to wash
  22. racket — for tennis
  23. shower — a meteor shower
  24. racket — for tennis

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