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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 hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  2. Don't do anything ________________.
  3. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  4. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  5. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  6. There's no middle ________________.
  7. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  8. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  9. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  10. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  11. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  12. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  13. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  14. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  15. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  16. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  17. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  18. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  19. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  20. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  21. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  22. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  23. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  24. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.

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

Answer key

  1. spring — of water
  2. rash — hasty
  3. net — in sport
  4. bat — for baseball
  5. racket — for tennis
  6. ground — a position
  7. bat — the animal
  8. hand — part of the body
  9. spring — a coil
  10. hand — help
  11. hand — in cards
  12. net — for catching
  13. spring — the season
  14. ground — the earth
  15. rash — a series
  16. bat — in an idiom
  17. kick — in football
  18. kick — a thrill
  19. rash — on the skin
  20. racket — a loud noise
  21. racket — for tennis
  22. net — after costs
  23. ground — crushed
  24. kick — with a leg

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