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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. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  3. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  4. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  5. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  6. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  7. False peace will not ________________.
  8. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  9. Did you ________________ the meat?
  10. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  11. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  12. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  13. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  14. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  15. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  16. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  17. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  18. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  19. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  20. The ball is in your ________________.
  21. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  22. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  23. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  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. last — final
  3. tear — to rip
  4. straw — dry grass
  5. wave — with your hand
  6. court — of law
  7. last — to go on
  8. chair — to sit on
  9. season — to add flavour
  10. tear — from crying
  11. tear — from crying
  12. court — of a king
  13. straw — to clutch at straws
  14. season — in sport
  15. chair — a leader
  16. wave — a sudden rise
  17. chair — a professorship
  18. season — of the year
  19. spring — the season
  20. court — for sport
  21. straw — a straw man
  22. last — finally
  23. wave — of the sea
  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