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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 116 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 old man leaned on his ________________.
  2. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  3. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  4. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  5. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  6. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  7. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  8. We're almost out of ________________.
  9. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  10. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  11. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  12. You don't need to ________________ round.
  13. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  14. The water is too ________________.
  15. That was a fun ________________.
  16. David sat on the ________________.
  17. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  18. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  19. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  20. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  21. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  22. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  23. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  24. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.

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

Answer key

  1. staff — a stick
  2. cold — the Cold War
  3. cold — an illness
  4. swing — music
  5. spring — of water
  6. staff — employees
  7. leaves — of a tree
  8. pop — soda
  9. spring — a coil
  10. game — a kind of play
  11. spring — the season
  12. pop — to visit
  13. pop — music
  14. cold — not warm
  15. game — a match
  16. swing — to play on
  17. prune — to trim
  18. game — wild animals
  19. prune — the fruit
  20. leaves — to go away
  21. swing — in golf
  22. leaves — lets stay
  23. staff — employees
  24. prune — to trim

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