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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 sailing ship dropped anchor in the ________________.
  3. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  4. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  5. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  6. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  7. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  8. This piece is in a major ________________.
  9. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  10. Close the lid of the trash can to keep odors and pests at ________________.
  11. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  12. Did you ________________ the meat?
  13. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  14. My mare is ________________ in color.
  15. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  16. The water is too ________________.
  17. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  18. He was locked up in a ________________.
  19. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  20. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  21. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  22. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  23. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  24. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.

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

Answer key

  1. spring — of water
  2. bay — a part of the sea
  3. cell — in biology
  4. key — for a lock
  5. wind — moving air
  6. wind — moving air
  7. season — in sport
  8. key — in music
  9. wind — to turn a key
  10. bay — to keep at bay
  11. key — the most important part
  12. season — to add flavour
  13. cold — an illness
  14. bay — a horse colour
  15. wound — past of 'wind'
  16. cold — not warm
  17. spring — the season
  18. cell — in a prison
  19. wound — an injury
  20. spring — a coil
  21. season — of the year
  22. cell — a phone
  23. cold — the Cold War
  24. wound — an injury

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