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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: march · mine · spring · track · pass · bat · shower · swing

  1. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  2. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  3. David sat on the ________________.
  4. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  5. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  6. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  7. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  8. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  9. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  10. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  11. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  12. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  13. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  14. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  15. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  16. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  17. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  18. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  19. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  20. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  21. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  22. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  23. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  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. pass — to succeed
  2. spring — a coil
  3. swing — to play on
  4. shower — a meteor shower
  5. mine — belonging to me
  6. swing — in golf
  7. spring — the season
  8. mine — an explosive
  9. swing — music
  10. march — music
  11. bat — in an idiom
  12. track — a path
  13. spring — of water
  14. march — the month
  15. track — a song
  16. march — the month
  17. mine — for digging
  18. bat — for baseball
  19. bat — the animal
  20. track — to keep track
  21. shower — to wash
  22. pass — to spend time
  23. pass — a permit
  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