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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 116 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. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  2. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  3. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  4. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  5. She's very handy with a ________________.
  6. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  7. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  8. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  9. When are we going to ________________?
  10. The King held a masked ________________.
  11. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  12. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  13. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  14. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  15. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  16. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  17. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  18. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  19. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  20. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  21. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  22. The water is too ________________.
  23. He works in a ________________ mill.
  24. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — the Cold War
  2. ball — a round shape
  3. club — for golf
  4. club — a group
  5. saw — the tool
  6. saw — past of 'see'
  7. snap — to speak sharply
  8. snap — to snap out of it
  9. land — to come down
  10. ball — a dance
  11. club — for dancing
  12. land — ground
  13. root — of a plant
  14. spring — the season
  15. land — a country
  16. ball — a great time
  17. root — the cause
  18. spring — of water
  19. spring — a coil
  20. snap — to click
  21. cold — an illness
  22. cold — not warm
  23. saw — the tool
  24. root — of a word

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