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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. When will it ________________ you to start?
  2. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  3. He is an ace ________________.
  4. The water is too ________________.
  5. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  6. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  7. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  8. How do you ________________ your surname?
  9. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  10. When was this ________________ built?
  11. Positive actions can inspire others to follow ________________.
  12. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  13. When are we going to ________________?
  14. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  15. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  16. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  17. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  18. The cuffs of his ________________ jacket are badly frayed.
  19. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  20. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  21. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  22. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  23. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  24. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.

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

Answer key

  1. suit — to fit
  2. spring — of water
  3. pitcher — in baseball
  4. cold — not warm
  5. temple — a place of worship
  6. pitcher — a jug
  7. spring — a coil
  8. spell — letters
  9. temple — side of the head
  10. temple — a place of worship
  11. suit — in cards
  12. land — ground
  13. land — to come down
  14. spring — the season
  15. chest — a box
  16. spell — magic
  17. land — a country
  18. suit — clothes
  19. cold — the Cold War
  20. pitcher — a jug
  21. chest — of your body
  22. spell — a short time
  23. chest — of your body
  24. cold — an illness

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