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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. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  2. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  3. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  4. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  5. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  6. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  7. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  8. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  9. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  10. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  11. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  12. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  13. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  14. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  15. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  16. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  17. When are we going to ________________?
  18. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  19. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  20. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  21. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  22. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  23. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  24. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.

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

Answer key

  1. racket — for tennis
  2. mark — to pay attention
  3. spring — of water
  4. chest — of your body
  5. racket — a loud noise
  6. land — a country
  7. drill — the tool
  8. spring — a coil
  9. lash — a whip stroke
  10. lash — an eyelash
  11. mark — a grade
  12. drill — army training
  13. perch — for a bird
  14. racket — for tennis
  15. lash — to lash out
  16. drill — a practice
  17. land — to come down
  18. chest — a box
  19. land — ground
  20. spring — the season
  21. perch — for a bird
  22. perch — the fish
  23. mark — a trace
  24. chest — of your body

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