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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 hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  2. The water is too ________________.
  3. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  4. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  5. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  6. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  7. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  8. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  9. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  10. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  11. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  12. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  13. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  14. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  15. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  16. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  17. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  18. He was locked up in a ________________.
  19. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  20. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  21. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  22. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  23. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  24. That was a fun ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. mark — a trace
  2. cold — not warm
  3. cell — a phone
  4. game — a kind of play
  5. perch — the fish
  6. mark — a grade
  7. spring — of water
  8. spring — a coil
  9. deal — a big deal
  10. deal — to handle
  11. perch — for a bird
  12. deal — an agreement
  13. band — a rubber band
  14. game — wild animals
  15. spring — the season
  16. mark — to pay attention
  17. perch — for a bird
  18. cell — in a prison
  19. cold — the Cold War
  20. band — a ring
  21. cell — in biology
  22. band — a music group
  23. cold — an illness
  24. game — a match

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