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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. Did you ________________ the meat?
  2. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  3. This piece is in a major ________________.
  4. We're on a ________________ here.
  5. The water is too ________________.
  6. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  9. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  10. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  11. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  12. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  13. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  14. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  15. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  16. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  17. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  18. When are we going to ________________?
  19. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  20. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  21. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  22. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  23. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  24. The elephant has a huge ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. season — to add flavour
  2. spring — of water
  3. key — in music
  4. roll — on a roll
  5. cold — not warm
  6. spring — the season
  7. cold — an illness
  8. cold — the Cold War
  9. key — the most important part
  10. roll — a list
  11. trunk — of a tree
  12. season — in sport
  13. key — for a lock
  14. march — the month
  15. season — of the year
  16. roll — a cake
  17. land — ground
  18. land — to come down
  19. march — the month
  20. spring — a coil
  21. march — music
  22. trunk — of a car
  23. land — a country
  24. trunk — of an elephant

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