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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. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  2. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  3. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  4. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  5. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  6. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  7. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  8. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  9. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  10. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  11. The tickets are free of ________________.
  12. This piece is in a major ________________.
  13. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  14. That was a fun ________________.
  15. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  16. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  17. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  18. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  19. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  20. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  21. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  22. He was locked up in a ________________.
  23. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  24. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.

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

Answer key

  1. shower — to wash
  2. bear — the animal
  3. bear — to put up with
  4. spring — of water
  5. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  6. shower — rain
  7. key — for a lock
  8. key — the most important part
  9. cell — a phone
  10. game — wild animals
  11. charge — a price
  12. key — in music
  13. bear — the animal
  14. game — a match
  15. spring — the season
  16. charge — in control
  17. kid — to tease
  18. cell — in biology
  19. kid — child
  20. game — a kind of play
  21. shower — a meteor shower
  22. cell — in a prison
  23. charge — electricity
  24. spring — a coil

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