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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 · present · cap · mate · shower · current · content · bat

  1. Have you found your soul ________________?
  2. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  3. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  4. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  5. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  6. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  7. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  8. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  9. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  10. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  11. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  12. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  13. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  14. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  15. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  16. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  17. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  18. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  19. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  20. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  21. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  22. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  23. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  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. mate — a partner
  2. present — there
  3. present — a gift
  4. current — of water
  5. shower — to wash
  6. present — the time now
  7. current — happening now
  8. cap — of ice
  9. cap — a lid
  10. bat — the animal
  11. cap — a hat
  12. spring — the season
  13. current — electric
  14. spring — a coil
  15. content — the amount
  16. bat — for baseball
  17. content — happy
  18. mate — a friend
  19. content — videos and posts
  20. bat — in an idiom
  21. spring — of water
  22. mate — to breed
  23. shower — a meteor shower
  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