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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. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  2. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  3. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  4. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  5. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  6. Did you ________________ the meat?
  7. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  8. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  9. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  10. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  11. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  12. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  13. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  14. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  15. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  16. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  17. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  18. He is an ace ________________.
  19. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  20. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  21. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  22. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  23. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  24. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.

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

Answer key

  1. staff — employees
  2. staff — a stick
  3. cap — a hat
  4. tear — from crying
  5. cap — a lid
  6. season — to add flavour
  7. mine — for digging
  8. spring — of water
  9. pitcher — a jug
  10. tear — from crying
  11. season — in sport
  12. straw — to clutch at straws
  13. mine — belonging to me
  14. pitcher — a jug
  15. cap — of ice
  16. spring — the season
  17. straw — a straw man
  18. pitcher — in baseball
  19. mine — an explosive
  20. straw — dry grass
  21. tear — to rip
  22. staff — employees
  23. season — of the year
  24. spring — a coil

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