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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. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  2. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  3. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  4. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  5. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  6. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  7. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  8. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  9. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  10. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  11. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  12. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  13. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  14. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  15. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  16. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  17. False peace will not ________________.
  18. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  19. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  20. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  21. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  22. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  23. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  24. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. spring — of water
  2. band — a music group
  3. race — humankind
  4. hand — part of the body
  5. race — a contest
  6. bore — gave birth
  7. scale — for weighing
  8. content — the amount
  9. spring — a coil
  10. bore — to drill
  11. hand — help
  12. spring — the season
  13. last — final
  14. last — finally
  15. band — a rubber band
  16. scale — in music
  17. last — to go on
  18. band — a ring
  19. hand — in cards
  20. content — videos and posts
  21. bore — to tire
  22. race — the arms race
  23. content — happy
  24. scale — size or range

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