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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. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  2. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  3. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  4. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  5. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  6. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  7. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  8. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  9. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  10. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  11. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  12. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  13. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  14. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  15. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  16. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  17. The water is too ________________.
  18. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  19. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  20. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  21. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  22. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  23. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  24. The flowers bloom in the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. spring — of water
  2. cold — the Cold War
  3. spring — a coil
  4. prune — to trim
  5. board — a committee
  6. dip — a sauce
  7. pit — a hole
  8. dip — to sink
  9. board — a flat piece
  10. board — to get on
  11. pit — a fruit stone
  12. pit — in a race
  13. band — a ring
  14. dip — to dunk
  15. prune — to trim
  16. tear — from crying
  17. cold — not warm
  18. prune — the fruit
  19. tear — to rip
  20. band — a rubber band
  21. band — a music group
  22. tear — from crying
  23. cold — an illness
  24. spring — the season

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