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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. I can't ________________ this cold.
  2. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  3. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  4. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  5. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  6. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  7. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  8. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  9. He was locked up in a ________________.
  10. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  11. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  12. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  13. This piece is in a major ________________.
  14. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  15. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  16. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  17. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  18. The water is too ________________.
  19. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  20. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  21. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  22. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  23. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  24. Hard work is the ________________ to success.

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

Answer key

  1. stand — to bear
  2. cell — in biology
  3. club — for dancing
  4. cell — a phone
  5. spring — of water
  6. mine — belonging to me
  7. spring — the season
  8. spring — a coil
  9. cell — in a prison
  10. cold — the Cold War
  11. mine — for digging
  12. hand — help
  13. key — in music
  14. hand — part of the body
  15. club — a group
  16. club — for golf
  17. mine — an explosive
  18. cold — not warm
  19. stand — on your feet
  20. hand — in cards
  21. stand — for spectators
  22. cold — an illness
  23. key — for a lock
  24. key — the most important part

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