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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 120 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. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  2. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  3. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  4. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  5. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  6. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  7. He was locked up in a ________________.
  8. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  9. The ball is in your ________________.
  10. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  11. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  12. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  13. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  14. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  15. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  16. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  17. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  18. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  19. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  20. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  21. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  22. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  23. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  24. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.

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

Answer key

  1. spring — a coil
  2. root — of a plant
  3. wound — an injury
  4. dip — a sauce
  5. spring — of water
  6. court — of law
  7. cell — in a prison
  8. mine — belonging to me
  9. court — for sport
  10. wound — an injury
  11. cell — in biology
  12. court — of a king
  13. root — of a word
  14. mine — for digging
  15. dip — to sink
  16. mine — an explosive
  17. root — the cause
  18. wound — past of 'wind'
  19. clip — for paper
  20. dip — to dunk
  21. cell — a phone
  22. clip — a video
  23. spring — the season
  24. clip — to cut

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