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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 120 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. Don't do anything ________________.
  2. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  3. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  4. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  5. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  6. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  7. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  8. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  9. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  10. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  11. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  12. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  13. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  14. The water is too ________________.
  15. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  16. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  17. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  18. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  19. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  20. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  21. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  22. How do you ________________ your surname?
  23. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  24. The ball hit the back of the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. rash — hasty
  2. leaves — to go away
  3. spring — a coil
  4. spring — of water
  5. spell — magic
  6. rash — on the skin
  7. racket — for tennis
  8. clip — a video
  9. net — after costs
  10. cold — the Cold War
  11. racket — for tennis
  12. racket — a loud noise
  13. clip — to cut
  14. cold — not warm
  15. spring — the season
  16. leaves — of a tree
  17. rash — a series
  18. clip — for paper
  19. cold — an illness
  20. spell — a short time
  21. leaves — lets stay
  22. spell — letters
  23. net — for catching
  24. net — in sport

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