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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. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  3. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  4. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  5. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  6. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  7. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  8. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  9. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  10. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  11. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  12. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  13. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  14. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  15. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  16. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  17. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  18. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  19. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  20. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  21. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  22. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  23. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  24. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. spring — of water
  2. staff — a stick
  3. mark — a trace
  4. mark — a grade
  5. straw — a straw man
  6. lash — a whip stroke
  7. staff — employees
  8. wind — to turn a key
  9. wind — moving air
  10. spring — a coil
  11. lash — to lash out
  12. straw — dry grass
  13. bear — the animal
  14. lash — an eyelash
  15. scale — size or range
  16. bear — to put up with
  17. mark — to pay attention
  18. wind — moving air
  19. scale — for weighing
  20. staff — employees
  21. bear — the animal
  22. spring — the season
  23. straw — to clutch at straws
  24. scale — in music

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