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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 flowers bloom in the ________________.
  2. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  3. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  4. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  5. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. The water is too ________________.
  8. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  9. When was this ________________ built?
  10. False peace will not ________________.
  11. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  12. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  13. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  14. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  15. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  16. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  17. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  18. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  19. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  20. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  21. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  22. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  23. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  24. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. spring — the season
  2. clip — to cut
  3. bat — for baseball
  4. spring — a coil
  5. mark — to pay attention
  6. cold — an illness
  7. cold — not warm
  8. temple — side of the head
  9. temple — a place of worship
  10. last — to go on
  11. clip — for paper
  12. club — a group
  13. last — finally
  14. mark — a grade
  15. mark — a trace
  16. temple — a place of worship
  17. last — final
  18. spring — of water
  19. club — for golf
  20. cold — the Cold War
  21. bat — in an idiom
  22. club — for dancing
  23. bat — the animal
  24. clip — a video

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