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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. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  2. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  3. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  4. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  5. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  6. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  7. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  8. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  9. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  10. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  11. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  12. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  13. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  14. The ball is in your ________________.
  15. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  16. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  17. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  18. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  19. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  20. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  21. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  22. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  23. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  24. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.

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

Answer key

  1. staff — employees
  2. spring — the season
  3. field — a subject
  4. wound — an injury
  5. spring — a coil
  6. fan — to cool the air
  7. snap — to speak sharply
  8. snap — to snap out of it
  9. spring — of water
  10. wound — past of 'wind'
  11. tear — from crying
  12. field — farmland
  13. staff — a stick
  14. court — for sport
  15. court — of law
  16. field — for sport
  17. snap — to click
  18. fan — a supporter
  19. wound — an injury
  20. tear — to rip
  21. staff — employees
  22. fan — a supporter
  23. tear — from crying
  24. court — of a king

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