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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. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  2. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  3. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  4. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  5. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  6. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  7. This piece is in a major ________________.
  8. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  9. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  10. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  11. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  12. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  13. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  14. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  15. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  16. He was locked up in a ________________.
  17. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  18. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  19. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  20. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  21. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  22. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  23. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  24. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!

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

Answer key

  1. key — for a lock
  2. spring — of water
  3. shower — rain
  4. key — the most important part
  5. wax — for sculpting
  6. field — for sport
  7. key — in music
  8. field — farmland
  9. wax — in the ear
  10. hand — part of the body
  11. shower — to wash
  12. stick — a piece of wood
  13. spring — a coil
  14. stick — a piece of wood
  15. spring — the season
  16. cell — in a prison
  17. shower — a meteor shower
  18. stick — to attach or keep to
  19. hand — in cards
  20. field — a subject
  21. cell — in biology
  22. wax — to grow
  23. hand — help
  24. cell — a phone

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