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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. We're almost out of ________________.
  2. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  3. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  4. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  5. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  6. You don't need to ________________ round.
  7. The water is too ________________.
  8. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  9. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  10. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  11. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  12. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  13. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  14. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  15. A ________________ helps one to draw a straight line.
  16. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  17. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  18. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  19. Borders were drawn on the map using a ________________, with no regard for cultural realities on the ground.
  20. Don't do anything ________________.
  21. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  22. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  23. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  24. The people resisted their cruel ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. pop — soda
  2. fork — a garden tool
  3. spring — the season
  4. pop — music
  5. pass — to succeed
  6. pop — to visit
  7. cold — not warm
  8. file — a document
  9. spring — of water
  10. file — a line of people
  11. cold — an illness
  12. pass — to spend time
  13. fork — in a road
  14. file — a tool
  15. ruler — for measuring
  16. fork — to eat with
  17. rash — on the skin
  18. rash — a series
  19. ruler — for measuring
  20. rash — hasty
  21. spring — a coil
  22. cold — the Cold War
  23. pass — a permit
  24. ruler — a monarch

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