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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. Did you ________________ the meat?
  2. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  3. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  4. When are we going to ________________?
  5. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  6. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  7. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  8. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  9. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  10. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  11. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  12. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  13. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  14. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  15. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  16. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  17. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  18. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  19. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  20. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  21. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  22. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  23. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  24. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.

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

Answer key

  1. season — to add flavour
  2. rock — music
  3. mark — a grade
  4. land — to come down
  5. season — in sport
  6. rock — to move gently
  7. kid — to tease
  8. spring — the season
  9. season — of the year
  10. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  11. mark — to pay attention
  12. land — a country
  13. mark — a trace
  14. spring — a coil
  15. kid — child
  16. land — ground
  17. drill — a practice
  18. drill — army training
  19. wake — before a funeral
  20. wake — to stop sleeping
  21. rock — a stone
  22. spring — of water
  23. drill — the tool
  24. wake — a trail

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