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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. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  3. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  4. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  5. The light ________________ burned out.
  6. He was locked up in a ________________.
  7. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  8. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  9. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  10. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  11. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  12. My father caught me by the ________________.
  13. The water is too ________________.
  14. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  15. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  16. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  17. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  18. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  19. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  20. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  21. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  22. I've got to change the light ________________.
  23. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  24. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.

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

Answer key

  1. spring — the season
  2. lie — an untruth
  3. wax — for sculpting
  4. spring — of water
  5. bulb — for light
  6. cell — in a prison
  7. lie — to recline
  8. wax — in the ear
  9. arm — part of the body
  10. branch — of a bank
  11. cell — a phone
  12. arm — part of the body
  13. cold — not warm
  14. lie — an untruth
  15. cold — an illness
  16. arm — a part of something
  17. cell — in biology
  18. spring — a coil
  19. branch — a division
  20. wax — to grow
  21. cold — the Cold War
  22. bulb — for light
  23. branch — of a tree
  24. bulb — of a plant

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