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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 124 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. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  2. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  3. There's no middle ________________.
  4. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  5. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  6. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  7. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  8. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  9. You don't need to ________________ round.
  10. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  11. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  12. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  13. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  14. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  15. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  16. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  17. False peace will not ________________.
  18. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  19. We're almost out of ________________.
  20. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  21. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  22. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  23. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  24. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.

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

Answer key

  1. last — final
  2. hide — to keep secret
  3. ground — a position
  4. spring — a coil
  5. spring — of water
  6. trunk — of a tree
  7. ground — crushed
  8. spring — the season
  9. pop — to visit
  10. wake — before a funeral
  11. bat — for baseball
  12. bat — the animal
  13. trunk — of an elephant
  14. hide — to keep secret
  15. wake — to stop sleeping
  16. last — finally
  17. last — to go on
  18. trunk — of a car
  19. pop — soda
  20. ground — the earth
  21. pop — music
  22. hide — animal skin
  23. bat — in an idiom
  24. wake — a trail

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