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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. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  2. Tiny blossoms have come out all over the river ________________.
  3. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  4. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  5. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  6. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  9. There's no middle ________________.
  10. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  11. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  12. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  13. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  14. The King held a masked ________________.
  15. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  16. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  17. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  18. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  19. This ________________ always watches out for its own interests.
  20. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  21. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  22. The water is too ________________.
  23. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  24. I'm going to the ________________ to withdraw money.

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

Answer key

  1. cap — a lid
  2. bank — of a river
  3. spring — the season
  4. mine — for digging
  5. shower — rain
  6. cap — of ice
  7. cold — an illness
  8. spring — a coil
  9. ground — a position
  10. ball — a round shape
  11. mine — an explosive
  12. ground — crushed
  13. ball — a great time
  14. ball — a dance
  15. ground — the earth
  16. shower — to wash
  17. shower — a meteor shower
  18. cold — the Cold War
  19. bank — for money
  20. mine — belonging to me
  21. cap — a hat
  22. cold — not warm
  23. spring — of water
  24. bank — for money

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