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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. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  2. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  3. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  4. The water is too ________________.
  5. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  6. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  7. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  8. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  9. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  10. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  11. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  12. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  13. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  14. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  15. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  16. That was a fun ________________.
  17. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  18. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  19. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  20. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  21. There's no middle ________________.
  22. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  23. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  24. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.

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

Answer key

  1. mark — a grade
  2. mark — a trace
  3. staff — employees
  4. cold — not warm
  5. ground — the earth
  6. staff — employees
  7. march — music
  8. game — a kind of play
  9. spring — the season
  10. bowl — a football final
  11. bowl — to roll
  12. spring — of water
  13. ground — crushed
  14. bowl — a dish
  15. staff — a stick
  16. game — a match
  17. mark — to pay attention
  18. march — the month
  19. march — the month
  20. spring — a coil
  21. ground — a position
  22. cold — an illness
  23. game — wild animals
  24. cold — the Cold War

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