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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 blown up by a land ________________.
  2. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  3. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  4. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  5. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  6. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  7. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  8. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  9. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  10. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  11. The water is too ________________.
  12. Have you met the new head ________________?
  13. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  14. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  15. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  16. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  17. Have you found your soul ________________?
  18. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  19. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  20. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  21. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  22. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  23. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  24. This looks like a gunshot ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. mine — an explosive
  2. coach — pulled by horses
  3. coach — a trainer
  4. wound — an injury
  5. kick — in football
  6. mine — for digging
  7. spring — a coil
  8. cold — an illness
  9. wound — past of 'wind'
  10. tear — from crying
  11. cold — not warm
  12. coach — a trainer
  13. spring — of water
  14. mate — to breed
  15. tear — from crying
  16. tear — to rip
  17. mate — a partner
  18. spring — the season
  19. kick — a thrill
  20. cold — the Cold War
  21. mine — belonging to me
  22. mate — a friend
  23. kick — with a leg
  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