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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. Have you met the new head ________________?
  2. There's no middle ________________.
  3. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  4. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  5. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  6. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  7. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  8. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  9. Have you settled on a ________________?
  10. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  11. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  12. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  13. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  14. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  15. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  16. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  17. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  18. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  19. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  20. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  21. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  22. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  23. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  24. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.

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

Answer key

  1. coach — a trainer
  2. ground — a position
  3. hide — animal skin
  4. drill — the tool
  5. ground — crushed
  6. wake — a trail
  7. current — electric
  8. spring — the season
  9. date — on the calendar
  10. coach — a trainer
  11. coach — pulled by horses
  12. wake — before a funeral
  13. drill — a practice
  14. date — the fruit
  15. drill — army training
  16. current — of water
  17. wake — to stop sleeping
  18. spring — a coil
  19. spring — of water
  20. current — happening now
  21. hide — to keep secret
  22. hide — to keep secret
  23. date — on the calendar
  24. ground — the earth

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