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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. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  2. Did you ________________ the meat?
  3. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  4. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  5. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  6. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  7. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  8. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  9. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  10. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  11. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  12. That must've been a ________________.
  13. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  14. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  15. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  16. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  17. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  18. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  19. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  20. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  21. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  22. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  23. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  24. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.

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

Answer key

  1. rush — to hurry
  2. season — to add flavour
  3. cap — a lid
  4. bat — the animal
  5. band — a music group
  6. row — a quarrel
  7. row — to paddle
  8. band — a rubber band
  9. spring — the season
  10. cap — a hat
  11. spring — a coil
  12. rush — a thrill
  13. rush — hurry
  14. cap — of ice
  15. band — a ring
  16. row — a line
  17. pound — for dogs
  18. pound — to hit hard
  19. bat — for baseball
  20. pound — a weight
  21. season — of the year
  22. spring — of water
  23. season — in sport
  24. bat — in an idiom

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