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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 president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  2. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  3. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  4. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  5. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  6. We're almost out of ________________.
  7. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  8. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  9. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  10. This piece is in a major ________________.
  11. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  12. You don't need to ________________ round.
  13. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  14. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  15. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  16. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  17. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  18. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  19. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  20. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  21. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  22. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  23. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  24. I'd like to play a game of ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. squash — to crush
  2. spring — a coil
  3. pop — music
  4. row — a quarrel
  5. key — the most important part
  6. pop — soda
  7. spring — of water
  8. kid — to tease
  9. track — a song
  10. key — in music
  11. row — a line
  12. pop — to visit
  13. squash — the vegetable
  14. file — a line of people
  15. key — for a lock
  16. track — to keep track
  17. file — a document
  18. kid — child
  19. track — a path
  20. file — a tool
  21. spring — the season
  22. row — to paddle
  23. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  24. squash — the sport

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

Make a worksheet (0 words)

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