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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. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  2. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  3. That was ________________ to happen.
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  6. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  7. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  8. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  9. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  10. It's one o'clock ________________.
  11. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  12. He is an ace ________________.
  13. The water is too ________________.
  14. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  15. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  16. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  17. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  18. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  19. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  20. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  21. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  22. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  23. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  24. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.

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

Answer key

  1. sharp — clever
  2. spring — of water
  3. bound — certain
  4. cold — an illness
  5. bound — tied together
  6. spring — a coil
  7. fork — to eat with
  8. fork — a garden tool
  9. spring — the season
  10. sharp — exactly
  11. mine — an explosive
  12. pitcher — in baseball
  13. cold — not warm
  14. pitcher — a jug
  15. scale — size or range
  16. scale — in music
  17. scale — for weighing
  18. fork — in a road
  19. cold — the Cold War
  20. sharp — with an edge
  21. bound — obliged
  22. mine — for digging
  23. mine — belonging to me
  24. pitcher — a jug

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