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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 flowers bloom in the ________________.
  2. There's no middle ________________.
  3. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  4. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  5. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  6. You don't need to ________________ round.
  7. The ________________ took off on time.
  8. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  9. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  10. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  11. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  12. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  13. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  14. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  15. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  16. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  17. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  18. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  19. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  20. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  21. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  22. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  23. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  24. We're almost out of ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. spring — the season
  2. ground — a position
  3. perch — for a bird
  4. perch — the fish
  5. cap — a hat
  6. pop — to visit
  7. plane — an aircraft
  8. pop — music
  9. mine — for digging
  10. plane — a tool
  11. mine — belonging to me
  12. spring — of water
  13. ground — the earth
  14. spring — a coil
  15. stem — a stem cell
  16. perch — for a bird
  17. stem — of a plant
  18. plane — in geometry
  19. ground — crushed
  20. stem — to come from
  21. cap — of ice
  22. cap — a lid
  23. mine — an explosive
  24. pop — soda

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