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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. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  2. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  3. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  4. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  5. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  6. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  7. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  8. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  9. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  10. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  11. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  12. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  13. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  14. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  15. I'll be taking the ________________.
  16. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  17. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  18. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  19. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  20. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  21. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  22. The King held a masked ________________.
  23. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  24. Don't do anything ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. ball — a great time
  2. spring — the season
  3. mine — for digging
  4. wave — with your hand
  5. wave — a sudden rise
  6. bat — the animal
  7. wave — of the sea
  8. spring — of water
  9. bat — for baseball
  10. ball — a round shape
  11. tube — a container
  12. mine — an explosive
  13. spring — a coil
  14. mine — belonging to me
  15. tube — the underground
  16. stem — to come from
  17. tube — in a tire
  18. stem — of a plant
  19. bat — in an idiom
  20. rash — a series
  21. rash — on the skin
  22. ball — a dance
  23. stem — a stem cell
  24. rash — hasty

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