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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 assure you, everything's ________________.
  3. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  4. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  5. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  6. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  7. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  8. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  9. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  10. We're on a ________________ here.
  11. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  12. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  13. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  14. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  15. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  16. How do you ________________ your surname?
  17. He is an ace ________________.
  18. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  19. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  20. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  21. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  22. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  23. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  24. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. spring — a coil
  2. fine — all right
  3. pitcher — a jug
  4. pit — a hole
  5. straw — dry grass
  6. spring — the season
  7. chest — of your body
  8. fine — high quality
  9. pit — a fruit stone
  10. roll — on a roll
  11. straw — to clutch at straws
  12. roll — a list
  13. chest — of your body
  14. fine — a penalty
  15. straw — a straw man
  16. spell — letters
  17. pitcher — in baseball
  18. spell — a short time
  19. spring — of water
  20. pit — in a race
  21. roll — a cake
  22. pitcher — a jug
  23. chest — a box
  24. spell — magic

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