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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 120 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. False peace will not ________________.
  3. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  4. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  5. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  6. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  7. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  8. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  9. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  10. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  11. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  12. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  13. Did you ________________ the button?
  14. This piece is in a major ________________.
  15. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  16. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  17. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  18. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  19. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  20. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  21. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  22. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  23. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  24. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.

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

Answer key

  1. spring — of water
  2. last — to go on
  3. spring — a coil
  4. content — videos and posts
  5. press — a publisher
  6. scale — in music
  7. spring — the season
  8. tear — to rip
  9. last — final
  10. content — the amount
  11. key — the most important part
  12. last — finally
  13. press — to push
  14. key — in music
  15. scale — size or range
  16. key — for a lock
  17. tear — from crying
  18. row — a line
  19. row — to paddle
  20. press — newspapers
  21. tear — from crying
  22. content — happy
  23. row — a quarrel
  24. scale — for weighing

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