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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. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  2. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  3. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  4. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  5. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  6. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  7. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  8. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  9. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  10. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  11. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  12. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  13. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  14. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  15. The King held a masked ________________.
  16. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  17. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  18. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  19. He is an ace ________________.
  20. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  21. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  22. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  23. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  24. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.

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

Answer key

  1. pitcher — a jug
  2. spring — of water
  3. rest — what's left
  4. clip — to cut
  5. ball — a round shape
  6. pitcher — a jug
  7. rest — a break
  8. mark — a trace
  9. rock — music
  10. mark — a grade
  11. spring — the season
  12. bat — the animal
  13. rock — a stone
  14. clip — for paper
  15. ball — a dance
  16. rest — what's left
  17. spring — a coil
  18. clip — a video
  19. pitcher — in baseball
  20. ball — a great time
  21. mark — to pay attention
  22. bat — in an idiom
  23. rock — to move gently
  24. bat — for baseball

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