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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. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  2. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  3. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  4. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  5. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  6. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  7. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  8. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  9. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  10. That was ________________ to happen.
  11. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  12. False peace will not ________________.
  13. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  14. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  15. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  16. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  17. The water is too ________________.
  18. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  19. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  20. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  21. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  22. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  23. What do you think of the new ________________?
  24. He was blown up by a land ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. last — final
  2. fine — all right
  3. spring — a coil
  4. pit — a fruit stone
  5. mine — belonging to me
  6. pit — in a race
  7. fine — a penalty
  8. spring — the season
  9. cabinet — a cupboard
  10. bound — certain
  11. spring — of water
  12. last — to go on
  13. bound — tied together
  14. fine — high quality
  15. bound — obliged
  16. mine — for digging
  17. cold — not warm
  18. cabinet — ministers
  19. last — finally
  20. cold — the Cold War
  21. cold — an illness
  22. pit — a hole
  23. cabinet — ministers
  24. mine — an explosive

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