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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. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  2. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  3. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  4. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  5. The water is too ________________.
  6. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  7. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  8. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  9. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  10. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  11. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  12. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  13. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  14. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  15. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  16. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  17. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  18. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  19. What do you think of the new ________________?
  20. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  21. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  22. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  23. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  24. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.

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

Answer key

  1. rock — music
  2. cabinet — ministers
  3. spring — of water
  4. cap — a lid
  5. cold — not warm
  6. rock — to move gently
  7. staff — employees
  8. pitch — completely
  9. pitch — a sales talk
  10. spring — the season
  11. cold — an illness
  12. cabinet — a cupboard
  13. cap — of ice
  14. staff — employees
  15. mine — for digging
  16. cap — a hat
  17. mine — an explosive
  18. spring — a coil
  19. cabinet — ministers
  20. mine — belonging to me
  21. staff — a stick
  22. pitch — a sports field
  23. rock — a stone
  24. cold — the Cold War

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