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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. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  2. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  3. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  4. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  5. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  6. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  7. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  8. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  9. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  10. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  11. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  12. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  13. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  14. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  15. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  16. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  17. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  18. The ________________ took off on time.
  19. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  20. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  21. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  22. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  23. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  24. You can't go backstage without a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. spring — of water
  2. spring — a coil
  3. march — music
  4. march — the month
  5. hand — in cards
  6. shower — rain
  7. shower — to wash
  8. hand — help
  9. wake — before a funeral
  10. spring — the season
  11. shower — a meteor shower
  12. pass — to succeed
  13. wake — a trail
  14. wake — to stop sleeping
  15. plane — in geometry
  16. hand — part of the body
  17. band — a music group
  18. plane — an aircraft
  19. band — a ring
  20. plane — a tool
  21. pass — to spend time
  22. band — a rubber band
  23. march — the month
  24. pass — a permit

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