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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. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  2. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  3. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  4. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  5. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  6. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  7. It's one o'clock ________________.
  8. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  9. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  10. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  11. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  12. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  13. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  14. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  15. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  16. The ball is in your ________________.
  17. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  18. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  19. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  20. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  21. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  22. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  23. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  24. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.

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

Answer key

  1. mine — for digging
  2. mine — belonging to me
  3. shower — rain
  4. scale — for weighing
  5. scale — in music
  6. sharp — with an edge
  7. sharp — exactly
  8. shower — a meteor shower
  9. sharp — clever
  10. mine — an explosive
  11. spring — of water
  12. kick — in football
  13. shower — to wash
  14. trunk — of a car
  15. spring — the season
  16. court — for sport
  17. scale — size or range
  18. kick — with a leg
  19. court — of law
  20. trunk — of an elephant
  21. kick — a thrill
  22. court — of a king
  23. spring — a coil
  24. trunk — of a tree

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