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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. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  3. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  4. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  5. Have you met the new head ________________?
  6. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  7. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  8. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  9. False peace will not ________________.
  10. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  11. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  12. David sat on the ________________.
  13. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  14. Have you found your soul ________________?
  15. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  16. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  17. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  18. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  19. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  20. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  21. Don't do anything ________________.
  22. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  23. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  24. He was locked up in a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. spring — the season
  2. last — final
  3. mate — to breed
  4. squash — the sport
  5. coach — a trainer
  6. coach — pulled by horses
  7. cell — a phone
  8. swing — music
  9. last — to go on
  10. squash — to crush
  11. coach — a trainer
  12. swing — to play on
  13. spring — a coil
  14. mate — a partner
  15. swing — in golf
  16. rash — a series
  17. squash — the vegetable
  18. rash — on the skin
  19. cell — in biology
  20. mate — a friend
  21. rash — hasty
  22. last — finally
  23. spring — of water
  24. cell — in a prison

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