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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. False peace will not ________________.
  2. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  3. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  4. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  5. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  6. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  7. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  8. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  9. That was a fun ________________.
  10. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  11. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  12. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  13. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  14. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  15. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  16. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  17. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  18. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  19. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  20. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  21. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  22. He was locked up in a ________________.
  23. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  24. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.

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

Answer key

  1. last — to go on
  2. spring — of water
  3. last — final
  4. game — a kind of play
  5. craft — boats
  6. last — finally
  7. craft — a handicraft
  8. game — wild animals
  9. game — a match
  10. cell — a phone
  11. net — after costs
  12. spring — a coil
  13. file — a tool
  14. cell — in biology
  15. pound — for dogs
  16. pound — to hit hard
  17. pound — a weight
  18. file — a document
  19. spring — the season
  20. net — for catching
  21. file — a line of people
  22. cell — in a prison
  23. net — in sport
  24. craft — a skill

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