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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. When are we going to ________________?
  3. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  4. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  5. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  6. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  7. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  8. She's very handy with a ________________.
  9. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  10. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  11. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  12. He works in a ________________ mill.
  13. The ball is in your ________________.
  14. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  15. David sat on the ________________.
  16. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  17. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  18. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  19. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  20. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  21. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  22. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  23. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  24. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.

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

Answer key

  1. spring — of water
  2. land — to come down
  3. craft — a skill
  4. land — ground
  5. present — a gift
  6. chair — a leader
  7. spring — the season
  8. saw — the tool
  9. swing — music
  10. craft — a handicraft
  11. present — there
  12. saw — the tool
  13. court — for sport
  14. court — of a king
  15. swing — to play on
  16. spring — a coil
  17. present — the time now
  18. court — of law
  19. land — a country
  20. swing — in golf
  21. chair — a professorship
  22. craft — boats
  23. chair — to sit on
  24. saw — past of 'see'

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