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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. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  3. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  4. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  5. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  6. It's one o'clock ________________.
  7. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  8. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  9. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  10. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  11. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  12. Don't do anything ________________.
  13. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  14. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  15. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  16. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  17. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  18. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  19. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  20. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  21. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  22. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  23. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  24. He was blown up by a land ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. spring — of water
  2. scale — size or range
  3. patient — calm and waiting
  4. bat — for baseball
  5. rash — on the skin
  6. sharp — exactly
  7. rash — a series
  8. spring — the season
  9. scale — for weighing
  10. patient — a sick person
  11. hand — in cards
  12. rash — hasty
  13. mine — belonging to me
  14. mine — for digging
  15. sharp — clever
  16. hand — part of the body
  17. bat — the animal
  18. patient — a sick person
  19. spring — a coil
  20. hand — help
  21. sharp — with an edge
  22. bat — in an idiom
  23. scale — in music
  24. mine — an explosive

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