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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 116 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. You don't need to ________________ round.
  3. We're almost out of ________________.
  4. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  5. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  6. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  7. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  8. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  9. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  10. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  11. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  12. It's one o'clock ________________.
  13. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  14. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  15. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  16. He is an ace ________________.
  17. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  18. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  19. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  20. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  21. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  22. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  23. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  24. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?

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

Answer key

  1. spring — the season
  2. pop — to visit
  3. pop — soda
  4. pitcher — a jug
  5. spring — a coil
  6. file — a tool
  7. pitcher — a jug
  8. pop — music
  9. calf — a young animal
  10. sharp — clever
  11. file — a line of people
  12. sharp — exactly
  13. bat — in an idiom
  14. rule — to rule out
  15. calf — of the leg
  16. pitcher — in baseball
  17. bat — for baseball
  18. calf — a young animal
  19. file — a document
  20. sharp — with an edge
  21. spring — of water
  22. rule — a law
  23. bat — the animal
  24. rule — government

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