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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. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  2. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  3. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  4. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  5. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  6. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  7. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  8. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  9. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  10. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  11. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  12. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  13. The ________________ market has crashed.
  14. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  15. Did you ________________ the meat?
  16. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  17. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  18. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  19. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  20. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  21. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  22. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  23. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  24. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.

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

Answer key

  1. deal — to handle
  2. season — of the year
  3. spring — of water
  4. wound — past of 'wind'
  5. mine — for digging
  6. hand — in cards
  7. deal — an agreement
  8. chest — of your body
  9. spring — the season
  10. stock — a soup base
  11. season — in sport
  12. mine — an explosive
  13. stock — shares
  14. stock — goods
  15. season — to add flavour
  16. hand — part of the body
  17. deal — a big deal
  18. chest — of your body
  19. hand — help
  20. mine — belonging to me
  21. wound — an injury
  22. spring — a coil
  23. wound — an injury
  24. chest — a box

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