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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. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  3. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  4. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  5. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  6. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  7. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  8. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  9. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  10. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  11. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  12. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  13. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  14. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  15. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  16. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  17. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  18. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  19. The ball is in your ________________.
  20. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  21. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  22. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  23. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  24. We ________________ up on opposing sides.

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

Answer key

  1. spring — of water
  2. stem — to come from
  3. stem — of a plant
  4. track — to keep track
  5. bass — low music
  6. bass — the instrument
  7. pound — for dogs
  8. court — of law
  9. pound — to hit hard
  10. lash — a whip stroke
  11. bass — the fish
  12. stem — a stem cell
  13. spring — the season
  14. track — a path
  15. spring — a coil
  16. pound — a weight
  17. wound — an injury
  18. lash — to lash out
  19. court — for sport
  20. lash — an eyelash
  21. court — of a king
  22. wound — an injury
  23. track — a song
  24. wound — past of 'wind'

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