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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. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  2. There's no middle ________________.
  3. That was ________________ to happen.
  4. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  5. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  6. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  7. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  8. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  9. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  10. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  11. Don't do anything ________________.
  12. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  13. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  14. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  15. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  16. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  17. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  18. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  19. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  20. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  21. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  22. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  23. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  24. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.

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

Answer key

  1. spring — a coil
  2. ground — a position
  3. bound — certain
  4. bound — obliged
  5. spring — of water
  6. file — a tool
  7. chest — a box
  8. rash — on the skin
  9. chest — of your body
  10. chest — of your body
  11. rash — hasty
  12. squash — the vegetable
  13. file — a line of people
  14. branch — of a bank
  15. squash — the sport
  16. branch — of a tree
  17. ground — the earth
  18. file — a document
  19. spring — the season
  20. rash — a series
  21. squash — to crush
  22. ground — crushed
  23. branch — a division
  24. bound — tied together

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