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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 116 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. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  3. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  4. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  5. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  6. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  7. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  8. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  9. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  10. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  11. We're almost out of ________________.
  12. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  13. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  14. You don't need to ________________ round.
  15. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  16. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  17. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  18. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  19. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  20. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  21. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  22. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  23. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  24. I got dealt a bad ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. spring — of water
  2. fall — to drop
  3. fall — the season
  4. bear — the animal
  5. file — a tool
  6. spring — the season
  7. prune — the fruit
  8. prune — to trim
  9. spring — a coil
  10. patient — a sick person
  11. pop — soda
  12. file — a line of people
  13. patient — a sick person
  14. pop — to visit
  15. patient — calm and waiting
  16. prune — to trim
  17. hand — help
  18. bear — the animal
  19. pop — music
  20. bear — to put up with
  21. file — a document
  22. fall — to drop
  23. hand — part of the body
  24. hand — in cards

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