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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 · tube · season · cold · plane · foot · bat · wax

  1. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  2. The ________________ took off on time.
  3. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  4. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  5. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  6. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  7. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  8. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  9. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  10. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  11. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  12. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  13. Did you ________________ the meat?
  14. The water is too ________________.
  15. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  16. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  17. I'll be taking the ________________.
  18. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  19. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  20. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  21. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  22. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  23. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  24. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.

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

Answer key

  1. spring — the season
  2. plane — an aircraft
  3. foot — the bottom
  4. plane — in geometry
  5. spring — of water
  6. tube — in a tire
  7. tube — a container
  8. season — of the year
  9. wax — for sculpting
  10. bat — for baseball
  11. foot — part of the body
  12. wax — in the ear
  13. season — to add flavour
  14. cold — not warm
  15. spring — a coil
  16. wax — to grow
  17. tube — the underground
  18. foot — a measure
  19. cold — an illness
  20. bat — the animal
  21. season — in sport
  22. cold — the Cold War
  23. plane — a tool
  24. bat — in an idiom

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