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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 116 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 hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  2. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  3. Did you ________________ the meat?
  4. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  5. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  6. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  7. The water is too ________________.
  8. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  9. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  10. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  11. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  12. Have you met the new head ________________?
  13. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  14. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  15. The ball is in your ________________.
  16. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  17. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  18. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  19. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  20. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  21. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  22. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  23. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  24. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?

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

Answer key

  1. spring — of water
  2. coach — a trainer
  3. season — to add flavour
  4. court — of a king
  5. branch — of a tree
  6. lean — to bend
  7. cold — not warm
  8. lean — thin
  9. season — in sport
  10. row — to paddle
  11. court — of law
  12. coach — a trainer
  13. row — a quarrel
  14. cold — an illness
  15. court — for sport
  16. branch — of a bank
  17. spring — the season
  18. lean — to rest against
  19. cold — the Cold War
  20. spring — a coil
  21. branch — a division
  22. row — a line
  23. season — of the year
  24. coach — pulled by horses

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