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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. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  3. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  4. He is an ace ________________.
  5. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  6. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  7. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  8. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  9. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  10. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  11. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  12. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  13. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  14. The ball is in your ________________.
  15. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  16. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  17. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  18. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  19. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  20. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  21. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  22. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  23. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  24. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?

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

Answer key

  1. spring — a coil
  2. pitcher — a jug
  3. spring — of water
  4. pitcher — in baseball
  5. mine — belonging to me
  6. court — of law
  7. race — a contest
  8. pitcher — a jug
  9. race — humankind
  10. present — there
  11. wake — to stop sleeping
  12. wind — to turn a key
  13. mine — an explosive
  14. court — for sport
  15. spring — the season
  16. present — the time now
  17. court — of a king
  18. wake — a trail
  19. wind — moving air
  20. wake — before a funeral
  21. wind — moving air
  22. race — the arms race
  23. mine — for digging
  24. present — a gift

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