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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. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  2. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  3. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  4. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  5. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  6. When are we going to ________________?
  7. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  8. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  9. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  10. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  11. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  12. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  13. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  14. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  15. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  16. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  17. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  18. The ball is in your ________________.
  19. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  20. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  21. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  22. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  23. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  24. We had a fire ________________ at school today.

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

Answer key

  1. spring — a coil
  2. spring — the season
  3. drill — the tool
  4. shower — rain
  5. drill — army training
  6. land — to come down
  7. shower — to wash
  8. straw — to clutch at straws
  9. court — of law
  10. wake — a trail
  11. land — ground
  12. land — a country
  13. patient — a sick person
  14. straw — dry grass
  15. wake — before a funeral
  16. patient — a sick person
  17. patient — calm and waiting
  18. court — for sport
  19. shower — a meteor shower
  20. spring — of water
  21. court — of a king
  22. straw — a straw man
  23. wake — to stop sleeping
  24. drill — a practice

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