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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. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  2. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  3. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  4. That must've been a ________________.
  5. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  6. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  7. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  8. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  9. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  10. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  11. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  12. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  13. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  14. The water is too ________________.
  15. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  16. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  17. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  18. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  19. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  20. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  21. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  22. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  23. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  24. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.

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

Answer key

  1. rush — hurry
  2. spring — of water
  3. clip — to cut
  4. rush — a thrill
  5. board — to get on
  6. shower — rain
  7. spring — a coil
  8. shower — to wash
  9. cold — an illness
  10. pit — a fruit stone
  11. clip — a video
  12. board — a flat piece
  13. board — a committee
  14. cold — not warm
  15. clip — for paper
  16. bear — to put up with
  17. bear — the animal
  18. cold — the Cold War
  19. pit — a hole
  20. rush — to hurry
  21. bear — the animal
  22. shower — a meteor shower
  23. spring — the season
  24. pit — in a race

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