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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 hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  2. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  3. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  4. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  5. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  6. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  7. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  8. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  9. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  10. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  11. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  12. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  13. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  14. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  15. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  16. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  17. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  18. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  19. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  20. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  21. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  22. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  23. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  24. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.

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

Answer key

  1. spring — of water
  2. racket — for tennis
  3. shower — a meteor shower
  4. craft — a skill
  5. staff — employees
  6. spring — a coil
  7. scale — size or range
  8. clip — for paper
  9. craft — boats
  10. shower — rain
  11. scale — in music
  12. racket — for tennis
  13. clip — to cut
  14. racket — a loud noise
  15. dip — a sauce
  16. staff — a stick
  17. spring — the season
  18. shower — to wash
  19. staff — employees
  20. clip — a video
  21. dip — to dunk
  22. scale — for weighing
  23. craft — a handicraft
  24. dip — to sink

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