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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.

Words on the sheet
468
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: firm · bat · dip · spring · cold · date · kid · spell

  1. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  2. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  3. She works as an advertiser at a New Jersey ________________.
  4. How do you ________________ your surname?
  5. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  6. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  7. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  8. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  9. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  12. I'll stand ________________ for what I deserve.
  13. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  14. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  15. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  16. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  17. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  18. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  19. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  20. The water is too ________________.
  21. Nothing provides more peace of mind than a ________________ decision.
  22. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  23. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  24. Have you settled on a ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. spring — the season
  2. dip — to dunk
  3. firm — a company
  4. spell — letters
  5. kid — child
  6. cold — the Cold War
  7. dip — to sink
  8. bat — for baseball
  9. spell — magic
  10. cold — an illness
  11. spring — of water
  12. firm — steady
  13. spell — a short time
  14. kid — to tease
  15. dip — a sauce
  16. date — the fruit
  17. bat — the animal
  18. spring — a coil
  19. date — on the calendar
  20. cold — not warm
  21. firm — decided
  22. bat — in an idiom
  23. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  24. date — on the calendar

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