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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. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  3. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  4. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  5. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  6. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  7. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  8. That was a fun ________________.
  9. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  10. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  11. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  12. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  13. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  14. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  15. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  16. I'll be taking the ________________.
  17. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  18. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  19. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  20. That was ________________ to happen.
  21. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  22. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  23. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  24. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. spring — the season
  2. spring — a coil
  3. bound — obliged
  4. tube — a container
  5. straw — a straw man
  6. spring — of water
  7. bore — to tire
  8. game — a match
  9. straw — to clutch at straws
  10. tube — in a tire
  11. field — a subject
  12. bore — gave birth
  13. field — for sport
  14. game — a kind of play
  15. mine — belonging to me
  16. tube — the underground
  17. bound — tied together
  18. field — farmland
  19. game — wild animals
  20. bound — certain
  21. mine — for digging
  22. bore — to drill
  23. mine — an explosive
  24. straw — dry grass

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