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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 flowers bloom in the ________________.
  3. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  4. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  5. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  6. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  9. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  10. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  11. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  12. False peace will not ________________.
  13. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  14. The tickets are free of ________________.
  15. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  16. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  17. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  18. The water is too ________________.
  19. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  20. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  21. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  22. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  23. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  24. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?

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

Answer key

  1. spring — a coil
  2. spring — the season
  3. field — farmland
  4. last — final
  5. object — an aim
  6. band — a rubber band
  7. cold — an illness
  8. spring — of water
  9. branch — of a bank
  10. charge — electricity
  11. last — finally
  12. last — to go on
  13. branch — of a tree
  14. charge — a price
  15. band — a ring
  16. charge — in control
  17. cold — the Cold War
  18. cold — not warm
  19. field — for sport
  20. band — a music group
  21. branch — a division
  22. field — a subject
  23. object — a thing
  24. object — to protest

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