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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. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  2. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  3. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  4. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  5. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  6. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  7. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  8. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  9. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  10. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  11. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  12. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  13. You don't need to ________________ round.
  14. He was locked up in a ________________.
  15. How do you ________________ your surname?
  16. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  17. There's no middle ________________.
  18. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  19. We're almost out of ________________.
  20. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  21. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  22. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  23. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  24. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.

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

Answer key

  1. cell — a phone
  2. spell — a short time
  3. spring — of water
  4. lean — to rest against
  5. hand — help
  6. patient — calm and waiting
  7. hand — in cards
  8. spell — magic
  9. ground — crushed
  10. lean — to bend
  11. pop — music
  12. hand — part of the body
  13. pop — to visit
  14. cell — in a prison
  15. spell — letters
  16. cell — in biology
  17. ground — a position
  18. patient — a sick person
  19. pop — soda
  20. ground — the earth
  21. lean — thin
  22. spring — the season
  23. patient — a sick person
  24. spring — a coil

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