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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. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  2. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  3. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  4. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  5. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  6. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  7. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  8. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  9. Did you ________________ the meat?
  10. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  11. Don't do anything ________________.
  12. The King held a masked ________________.
  13. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  14. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  15. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  16. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  17. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  18. David sat on the ________________.
  19. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  20. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  21. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  22. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  23. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  24. The kitten curled into a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. spring — a coil
  2. season — in sport
  3. swing — music
  4. season — of the year
  5. spring — the season
  6. wound — past of 'wind'
  7. lie — to recline
  8. field — a subject
  9. season — to add flavour
  10. rash — a series
  11. rash — hasty
  12. ball — a dance
  13. spring — of water
  14. lie — an untruth
  15. ball — a great time
  16. swing — in golf
  17. field — farmland
  18. swing — to play on
  19. lie — an untruth
  20. wound — an injury
  21. field — for sport
  22. rash — on the skin
  23. wound — an injury
  24. ball — a round shape

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