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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. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  2. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  3. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  4. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  5. David sat on the ________________.
  6. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  7. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  8. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  9. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  10. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  11. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  12. That must've been a ________________.
  13. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  14. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  15. It's one o'clock ________________.
  16. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  17. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  18. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  19. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  20. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  21. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  22. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  23. The ________________ went through the wall.
  24. You shouldn't ________________ things.

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

Answer key

  1. spring — a coil
  2. rush — hurry
  3. pound — to hit hard
  4. mine — belonging to me
  5. swing — to play on
  6. chair — a professorship
  7. nail — for a hammer
  8. chair — a leader
  9. sharp — with an edge
  10. pound — for dogs
  11. sharp — clever
  12. rush — a thrill
  13. pound — a weight
  14. mine — an explosive
  15. sharp — exactly
  16. spring — the season
  17. nail — on a finger
  18. swing — in golf
  19. chair — to sit on
  20. spring — of water
  21. swing — music
  22. mine — for digging
  23. nail — for a hammer
  24. rush — to hurry

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