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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. He is an ace ________________.
  2. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  3. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  4. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  5. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  6. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  7. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  8. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  9. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  10. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  11. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  12. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  13. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  14. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  15. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  16. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  17. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  18. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  19. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  20. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  21. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  22. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  23. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  24. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.

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

Answer key

  1. pitcher — in baseball
  2. bat — for baseball
  3. mine — belonging to me
  4. band — a music group
  5. shower — to wash
  6. spring — a coil
  7. pitcher — a jug
  8. shower — rain
  9. pass — to succeed
  10. spring — the season
  11. pitcher — a jug
  12. pass — to spend time
  13. band — a rubber band
  14. pass — a permit
  15. band — a ring
  16. bat — in an idiom
  17. patient — calm and waiting
  18. mine — an explosive
  19. patient — a sick person
  20. patient — a sick person
  21. spring — of water
  22. shower — a meteor shower
  23. mine — for digging
  24. bat — the animal

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