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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. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  2. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  3. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  4. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  5. David sat on the ________________.
  6. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  7. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  8. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  9. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  10. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  11. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  12. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  13. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  14. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  15. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  16. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  17. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  18. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  19. When was this ________________ built?
  20. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  21. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  22. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  23. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  24. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.

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

Answer key

  1. spring — a coil
  2. squash — the sport
  3. hand — in cards
  4. trunk — of a car
  5. swing — to play on
  6. temple — a place of worship
  7. spring — of water
  8. track — to keep track
  9. spring — the season
  10. trunk — of an elephant
  11. trunk — of a tree
  12. net — in sport
  13. hand — part of the body
  14. track — a song
  15. hand — help
  16. track — a path
  17. squash — to crush
  18. net — after costs
  19. temple — a place of worship
  20. squash — the vegetable
  21. net — for catching
  22. temple — side of the head
  23. swing — in golf
  24. swing — music

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