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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. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  2. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  3. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  4. We're almost out of ________________.
  5. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  6. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  7. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  8. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  9. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  10. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  11. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  12. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  13. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  14. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  15. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  16. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  17. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  18. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  19. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  20. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  21. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  22. Have you found your soul ________________?
  23. You don't need to ________________ round.
  24. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. pop — music
  2. mate — to breed
  3. scale — size or range
  4. pop — soda
  5. file — a document
  6. shower — to wash
  7. spring — the season
  8. track — to keep track
  9. root — the cause
  10. scale — in music
  11. file — a tool
  12. scale — for weighing
  13. root — of a word
  14. spring — of water
  15. track — a path
  16. mate — a friend
  17. spring — a coil
  18. root — of a plant
  19. shower — a meteor shower
  20. shower — rain
  21. track — a song
  22. mate — a partner
  23. pop — to visit
  24. file — a line of people

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