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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. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  2. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  3. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  4. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  5. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  6. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  7. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  8. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  9. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  10. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  11. The ________________ took off on time.
  12. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  13. The water is too ________________.
  14. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  15. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  16. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  17. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  18. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  19. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  20. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  21. The ________________ went through the wall.
  22. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  23. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  24. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. spring — the season
  2. squash — the sport
  3. cold — the Cold War
  4. shower — a meteor shower
  5. nail — on a finger
  6. capital — a big letter
  7. spring — a coil
  8. capital — a city
  9. squash — to crush
  10. plane — a tool
  11. plane — an aircraft
  12. nail — for a hammer
  13. cold — not warm
  14. face — to confront
  15. face — part of the head
  16. squash — the vegetable
  17. cold — an illness
  18. face — to point toward
  19. shower — to wash
  20. shower — rain
  21. nail — for a hammer
  22. capital — money
  23. plane — in geometry
  24. spring — of water

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