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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 116 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. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  2. He is an ace ________________.
  3. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  4. I'll be taking the ________________.
  5. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  6. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  7. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  8. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  9. Have you met the new head ________________?
  10. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  11. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  12. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  13. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  14. How do you ________________ your surname?
  15. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  16. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  17. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  18. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  19. When are we going to ________________?
  20. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  21. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  22. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  23. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  24. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. spell — magic
  2. pitcher — in baseball
  3. spring — the season
  4. tube — the underground
  5. tube — in a tire
  6. prune — the fruit
  7. pitcher — a jug
  8. coach — pulled by horses
  9. coach — a trainer
  10. bat — the animal
  11. spell — a short time
  12. bat — for baseball
  13. land — ground
  14. spell — letters
  15. spring — a coil
  16. land — a country
  17. bat — in an idiom
  18. coach — a trainer
  19. land — to come down
  20. tube — a container
  21. prune — to trim
  22. prune — to trim
  23. pitcher — a jug
  24. spring — of water

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