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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 ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  2. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  3. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  4. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  5. Did you ________________ the meat?
  6. He is an ace ________________.
  7. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  8. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  9. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  10. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  11. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  12. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  13. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  14. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  15. Have you settled on a ________________?
  16. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  17. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  18. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  19. That was a fun ________________.
  20. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  21. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  22. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  23. It's one o'clock ________________.
  24. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.

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

Answer key

  1. pitcher — a jug
  2. shower — to wash
  3. spring — a coil
  4. pound — a weight
  5. season — to add flavour
  6. pitcher — in baseball
  7. shower — rain
  8. shower — a meteor shower
  9. season — of the year
  10. game — wild animals
  11. sharp — clever
  12. pitcher — a jug
  13. sharp — with an edge
  14. pound — to hit hard
  15. date — on the calendar
  16. date — on the calendar
  17. pound — for dogs
  18. season — in sport
  19. game — a match
  20. spring — the season
  21. game — a kind of play
  22. spring — of water
  23. sharp — exactly
  24. date — the fruit

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