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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 hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  2. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  3. The ball is in your ________________.
  4. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  5. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  6. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  7. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  8. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  9. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  10. I've got to change the light ________________.
  11. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  12. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  13. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  14. The light ________________ burned out.
  15. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  16. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  17. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  18. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  19. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  20. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  21. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  22. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  23. That was a fun ________________.
  24. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.

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

Answer key

  1. spring — of water
  2. spring — the season
  3. court — for sport
  4. bat — for baseball
  5. club — for golf
  6. game — a kind of play
  7. club — for dancing
  8. spring — a coil
  9. court — of law
  10. bulb — for light
  11. bulb — of a plant
  12. game — wild animals
  13. file — a line of people
  14. bulb — for light
  15. drill — the tool
  16. bat — in an idiom
  17. drill — a practice
  18. file — a tool
  19. court — of a king
  20. club — a group
  21. file — a document
  22. drill — army training
  23. game — a match
  24. bat — the animal

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