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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. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  3. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  4. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  5. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  6. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  7. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  8. It's one o'clock ________________.
  9. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  10. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  11. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  12. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  13. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  14. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  15. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  16. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  17. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  18. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  19. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  20. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  21. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  22. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  23. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  24. David sat on the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. spring — the season
  2. fork — to eat with
  3. spring — of water
  4. shower — a meteor shower
  5. shower — to wash
  6. shower — rain
  7. current — electric
  8. sharp — exactly
  9. content — videos and posts
  10. sharp — clever
  11. clip — for paper
  12. content — happy
  13. content — the amount
  14. current — happening now
  15. spring — a coil
  16. sharp — with an edge
  17. current — of water
  18. fork — in a road
  19. clip — a video
  20. swing — in golf
  21. clip — to cut
  22. fork — a garden tool
  23. swing — music
  24. swing — to play on

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