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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. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  2. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  3. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  4. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  5. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  6. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  7. She's very handy with a ________________.
  8. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  9. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  10. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  11. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  12. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  13. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  14. He works in a ________________ mill.
  15. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  16. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  17. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  18. It's one o'clock ________________.
  19. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  20. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  21. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  22. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  23. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  24. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. spring — of water
  2. scale — size or range
  3. march — music
  4. scale — in music
  5. sharp — with an edge
  6. racket — a loud noise
  7. saw — the tool
  8. racket — for tennis
  9. snap — to speak sharply
  10. spring — a coil
  11. march — the month
  12. spring — the season
  13. stem — to come from
  14. saw — the tool
  15. stem — a stem cell
  16. saw — past of 'see'
  17. snap — to click
  18. sharp — exactly
  19. snap — to snap out of it
  20. racket — for tennis
  21. scale — for weighing
  22. march — the month
  23. sharp — clever
  24. stem — of a plant

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