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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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Word bank
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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word from the word bank in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

Word bank: spring · rule · season · shower · cell · stock · swing · wax

  1. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  2. David sat on the ________________.
  3. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  4. The ________________ market has crashed.
  5. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  6. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  7. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  8. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  9. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  10. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  11. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  12. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  13. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  14. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  15. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  16. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  17. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  18. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  19. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  20. He was locked up in a ________________.
  21. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  22. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  23. Did you ________________ the meat?
  24. We took cover from the thunder ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. spring — of water
  2. swing — to play on
  3. cell — a phone
  4. stock — shares
  5. rule — government
  6. spring — the season
  7. rule — a law
  8. cell — in biology
  9. wax — in the ear
  10. shower — to wash
  11. season — of the year
  12. stock — a soup base
  13. swing — music
  14. swing — in golf
  15. season — in sport
  16. wax — for sculpting
  17. rule — to rule out
  18. shower — a meteor shower
  19. stock — goods
  20. cell — in a prison
  21. spring — a coil
  22. wax — to grow
  23. season — to add flavour
  24. shower — rain

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