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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. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  2. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  3. Have you found your soul ________________?
  4. He was locked up in a ________________.
  5. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  6. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  7. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  8. We're almost out of ________________.
  9. You don't need to ________________ round.
  10. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  11. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  12. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  13. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  14. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  15. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  16. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  17. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  18. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  19. I'll be taking the ________________.
  20. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  21. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  22. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  23. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  24. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.

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

Answer key

  1. spring — the season
  2. bat — the animal
  3. mate — a partner
  4. cell — in a prison
  5. tube — in a tire
  6. pound — a weight
  7. tube — a container
  8. pop — soda
  9. pop — to visit
  10. pop — music
  11. pound — for dogs
  12. wake — before a funeral
  13. wake — to stop sleeping
  14. mate — to breed
  15. spring — of water
  16. cell — a phone
  17. bat — for baseball
  18. wake — a trail
  19. tube — the underground
  20. cell — in biology
  21. mate — a friend
  22. spring — a coil
  23. pound — to hit hard
  24. bat — in an idiom

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