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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. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  2. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  3. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  4. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  5. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  6. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  7. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  8. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  9. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  10. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  11. He was locked up in a ________________.
  12. The King held a masked ________________.
  13. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  14. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  15. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  16. That was a fun ________________.
  17. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  18. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  19. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  20. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  21. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  22. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  23. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  24. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.

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

Answer key

  1. spring — a coil
  2. current — electric
  3. pit — in a race
  4. ball — a great time
  5. ball — a round shape
  6. pit — a hole
  7. content — videos and posts
  8. game — wild animals
  9. pit — a fruit stone
  10. current — happening now
  11. cell — in a prison
  12. ball — a dance
  13. spring — the season
  14. current — of water
  15. content — happy
  16. game — a match
  17. spring — of water
  18. cell — in biology
  19. game — a kind of play
  20. face — part of the head
  21. cell — a phone
  22. content — the amount
  23. face — to confront
  24. face — to point toward

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