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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. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  2. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  3. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  4. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  5. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  6. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  7. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  8. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  9. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  10. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  11. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  12. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  13. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  14. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  15. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  16. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  17. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  18. The King held a masked ________________.
  19. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  20. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  21. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  22. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  23. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  24. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. hide — to keep secret
  2. hide — animal skin
  3. file — a line of people
  4. spring — a coil
  5. ball — a round shape
  6. capital — a city
  7. lean — to bend
  8. file — a document
  9. bat — for baseball
  10. spring — the season
  11. spring — of water
  12. lean — thin
  13. file — a tool
  14. capital — a big letter
  15. bat — in an idiom
  16. hide — to keep secret
  17. bat — the animal
  18. ball — a dance
  19. drill — the tool
  20. ball — a great time
  21. drill — army training
  22. drill — a practice
  23. lean — to rest against
  24. capital — money

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