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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. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  2. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  3. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  4. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  5. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  6. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  7. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  8. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  9. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  10. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  11. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  12. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  13. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  14. How do you ________________ your surname?
  15. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  16. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  17. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  18. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  19. When are we going to ________________?
  20. That was a fun ________________.
  21. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  22. He is an ace ________________.
  23. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  24. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.

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

Answer key

  1. spring — the season
  2. spring — of water
  3. cue — for pool
  4. game — wild animals
  5. spring — a coil
  6. bat — in an idiom
  7. track — to keep track
  8. pitcher — a jug
  9. cue — a signal
  10. cue — a hint
  11. game — a kind of play
  12. bat — the animal
  13. land — ground
  14. spell — letters
  15. pitcher — a jug
  16. bat — for baseball
  17. track — a path
  18. spell — a short time
  19. land — to come down
  20. game — a match
  21. spell — magic
  22. pitcher — in baseball
  23. land — a country
  24. track — a song

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