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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. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  3. False peace will not ________________.
  4. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  5. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  6. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  7. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  8. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  9. The water is too ________________.
  10. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  11. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  12. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  13. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  14. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  15. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  16. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  17. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  18. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  19. Did you ________________ the meat?
  20. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  21. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  22. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  23. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  24. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.

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

Answer key

  1. spring — a coil
  2. snap — to click
  3. last — to go on
  4. foot — the bottom
  5. board — a committee
  6. board — a flat piece
  7. mine — an explosive
  8. snap — to speak sharply
  9. cold — not warm
  10. last — finally
  11. season — in sport
  12. cold — the Cold War
  13. spring — of water
  14. spring — the season
  15. snap — to snap out of it
  16. cold — an illness
  17. mine — for digging
  18. last — final
  19. season — to add flavour
  20. foot — a measure
  21. board — to get on
  22. foot — part of the body
  23. season — of the year
  24. mine — belonging to me

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