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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 116 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. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  3. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  4. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  5. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  6. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  7. The water is too ________________.
  8. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  9. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  10. What do you think of the new ________________?
  11. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  12. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  13. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  14. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  15. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  16. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  17. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  18. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  19. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  20. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  21. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  22. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  23. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  24. What was your ________________ profit last year?

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

Answer key

  1. spring — the season
  2. net — for catching
  3. march — the month
  4. hand — part of the body
  5. mine — an explosive
  6. net — in sport
  7. cold — not warm
  8. mine — belonging to me
  9. hand — help
  10. cabinet — ministers
  11. cabinet — ministers
  12. cold — the Cold War
  13. cold — an illness
  14. march — the month
  15. spring — a coil
  16. chip — to eat
  17. cabinet — a cupboard
  18. chip — for betting
  19. mine — for digging
  20. spring — of water
  21. hand — in cards
  22. march — music
  23. chip — in a computer
  24. net — after costs

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