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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 124 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 King held a masked ________________.
  2. Don't do anything ________________.
  3. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  4. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  5. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  6. That was a fun ________________.
  7. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  8. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  9. David sat on the ________________.
  10. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  11. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  12. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  13. There's no middle ________________.
  14. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  15. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  16. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  17. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  18. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  19. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  20. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  21. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  22. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  23. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  24. Add some ________________ pepper to it.

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

Answer key

  1. ball — a dance
  2. rash — hasty
  3. spring — a coil
  4. rash — on the skin
  5. drill — a practice
  6. game — a match
  7. spring — the season
  8. tear — from crying
  9. swing — to play on
  10. tear — from crying
  11. tear — to rip
  12. swing — in golf
  13. ground — a position
  14. spring — of water
  15. drill — the tool
  16. swing — music
  17. drill — army training
  18. rash — a series
  19. ball — a round shape
  20. game — wild animals
  21. game — a kind of play
  22. ground — the earth
  23. ball — a great time
  24. ground — crushed

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