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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. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  2. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  3. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  4. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  5. How do you ________________ your surname?
  6. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  7. The King held a masked ________________.
  8. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  9. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  10. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  11. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  12. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  13. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  14. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  15. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  16. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  17. There's no middle ________________.
  18. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  19. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  20. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  21. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  22. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  23. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  24. The kitten curled into a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. ground — crushed
  2. present — the time now
  3. ground — the earth
  4. march — the month
  5. spell — letters
  6. chest — of your body
  7. ball — a dance
  8. march — the month
  9. tear — from crying
  10. march — music
  11. spring — the season
  12. spell — magic
  13. tear — to rip
  14. chest — of your body
  15. chest — a box
  16. spell — a short time
  17. ground — a position
  18. tear — from crying
  19. ball — a great time
  20. present — a gift
  21. spring — of water
  22. present — there
  23. spring — a coil
  24. ball — a round shape

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

Make a worksheet (0 words)

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