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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. He was locked up in a ________________.
  2. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  3. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  4. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  5. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  6. The water is too ________________.
  7. He is an ace ________________.
  8. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  9. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  10. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  11. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  12. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  13. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  14. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  15. This piece is in a major ________________.
  16. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  17. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  18. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  19. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  20. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  21. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  22. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  23. The tickets are free of ________________.
  24. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cell — in a prison
  2. cell — a phone
  3. shower — a meteor shower
  4. charge — electricity
  5. face — to confront
  6. cold — not warm
  7. pitcher — in baseball
  8. charge — in control
  9. key — for a lock
  10. pitcher — a jug
  11. spring — the season
  12. cell — in biology
  13. pitcher — a jug
  14. spring — a coil
  15. key — in music
  16. cold — the Cold War
  17. key — the most important part
  18. shower — to wash
  19. face — to point toward
  20. cold — an illness
  21. shower — rain
  22. face — part of the head
  23. charge — a price
  24. spring — of water

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