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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 hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  2. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  3. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  4. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  5. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  6. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  7. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  8. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  9. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  10. I like lots of butter on my ________________ in the morning.
  11. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  12. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  13. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  14. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  15. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  16. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  17. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  18. I would like to propose a ________________ on your birthday.
  19. After the show, she was the ________________ of the town.
  20. The water is too ________________.
  21. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  22. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  23. Where did you ________________ them?
  24. This looks like a gunshot ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. spring — of water
  2. chest — a box
  3. spring — the season
  4. mug — a face
  5. cold — an illness
  6. march — the month
  7. file — a tool
  8. cold — the Cold War
  9. march — the month
  10. toast — bread
  11. mug — a cup
  12. chest — of your body
  13. wound — past of 'wind'
  14. file — a document
  15. march — music
  16. spring — a coil
  17. wound — an injury
  18. toast — a drink to someone
  19. toast — the most admired
  20. cold — not warm
  21. file — a line of people
  22. chest — of your body
  23. mug — to rob
  24. wound — an injury

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