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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. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  2. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  3. The King held a masked ________________.
  4. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  5. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  6. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  7. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  8. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  9. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  10. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  11. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  12. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  13. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  14. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  15. That must've been a ________________.
  16. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  17. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  18. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  19. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  20. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  21. Have you met the new head ________________?
  22. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  23. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  24. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.

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

Answer key

  1. bat — for baseball
  2. spring — of water
  3. ball — a dance
  4. scale — for weighing
  5. scale — size or range
  6. rush — hurry
  7. coach — pulled by horses
  8. bat — in an idiom
  9. scale — in music
  10. rush — to hurry
  11. spring — a coil
  12. tear — from crying
  13. tear — from crying
  14. bat — the animal
  15. rush — a thrill
  16. pit — a hole
  17. spring — the season
  18. ball — a great time
  19. pit — in a race
  20. coach — a trainer
  21. coach — a trainer
  22. ball — a round shape
  23. pit — a fruit stone
  24. tear — to rip

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