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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. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  2. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  3. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  4. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  5. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  6. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  7. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  8. Have you met the new head ________________?
  9. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  10. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  11. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  12. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  13. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  14. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  15. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  16. He was locked up in a ________________.
  17. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  18. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  19. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  20. Have you settled on a ________________?
  21. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  22. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  23. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  24. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. fall — the season
  2. coach — a trainer
  3. cell — a phone
  4. pitch — completely
  5. spring — of water
  6. fork — a garden tool
  7. coach — pulled by horses
  8. coach — a trainer
  9. spring — the season
  10. cell — in biology
  11. pitch — a sales talk
  12. fall — to drop
  13. shower — rain
  14. date — the fruit
  15. shower — to wash
  16. cell — in a prison
  17. fall — to drop
  18. fork — in a road
  19. fork — to eat with
  20. date — on the calendar
  21. date — on the calendar
  22. spring — a coil
  23. pitch — a sports field
  24. shower — a meteor shower

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