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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. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  2. We're almost out of ________________.
  3. Did you ________________ the meat?
  4. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  5. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  6. You don't need to ________________ round.
  7. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  8. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  9. The water is too ________________.
  10. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  11. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  12. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  13. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  14. He was locked up in a ________________.
  15. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  16. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  17. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  18. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  19. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  20. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  21. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  22. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  23. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  24. Recycle the empty soda ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. spring — the season
  2. pop — soda
  3. season — to add flavour
  4. season — of the year
  5. chest — of your body
  6. pop — to visit
  7. hide — to keep secret
  8. chest — of your body
  9. cold — not warm
  10. spring — a coil
  11. cold — an illness
  12. cell — in biology
  13. can — to be able to
  14. cell — in a prison
  15. season — in sport
  16. spring — of water
  17. chest — a box
  18. hide — to keep secret
  19. can — a tin
  20. cell — a phone
  21. hide — animal skin
  22. cold — the Cold War
  23. pop — music
  24. can — a tin

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