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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. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  2. You don't need to ________________ round.
  3. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  4. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  5. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  6. The water is too ________________.
  7. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  8. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  9. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  10. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  11. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  12. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  13. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  14. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  15. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  16. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  17. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  18. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  19. The tickets are free of ________________.
  20. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  21. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  22. We're almost out of ________________.
  23. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  24. We took cover from the thunder ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. spring — a coil
  2. pop — to visit
  3. spring — the season
  4. wind — to turn a key
  5. wind — moving air
  6. cold — not warm
  7. pop — music
  8. net — for catching
  9. net — in sport
  10. charge — electricity
  11. cold — the Cold War
  12. net — after costs
  13. charge — in control
  14. wind — moving air
  15. cold — an illness
  16. prune — to trim
  17. prune — to trim
  18. shower — a meteor shower
  19. charge — a price
  20. shower — to wash
  21. prune — the fruit
  22. pop — soda
  23. spring — of water
  24. shower — rain

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