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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 flowers bloom in the ________________.
  2. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  3. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  4. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  5. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  6. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  7. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  8. The tickets are free of ________________.
  9. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  10. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  11. The water is too ________________.
  12. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  13. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  14. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  15. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  16. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  17. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  18. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  19. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  20. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  21. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  22. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  23. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  24. There's a computer ________________ on the table.

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

Answer key

  1. spring — the season
  2. march — music
  3. cold — an illness
  4. charge — in control
  5. chip — to eat
  6. tear — from crying
  7. field — a subject
  8. charge — a price
  9. cold — the Cold War
  10. march — the month
  11. cold — not warm
  12. field — farmland
  13. tear — to rip
  14. spring — a coil
  15. bass — the fish
  16. tear — from crying
  17. charge — electricity
  18. chip — for betting
  19. field — for sport
  20. bass — the instrument
  21. march — the month
  22. bass — low music
  23. spring — of water
  24. chip — in a computer

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