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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: date · mine · cell · clip · spring · mug · shower · cabinet

  1. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  2. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  3. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  4. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  5. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  6. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  7. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  8. What do you think of the new ________________?
  9. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  10. Have you settled on a ________________?
  11. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  12. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  13. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  14. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  15. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  16. Where did you ________________ them?
  17. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  18. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  19. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  20. He was locked up in a ________________.
  21. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  22. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  23. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  24. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. mine — belonging to me
  2. spring — of water
  3. date — the fruit
  4. mug — a face
  5. shower — rain
  6. mine — an explosive
  7. mine — for digging
  8. cabinet — ministers
  9. spring — the season
  10. date — on the calendar
  11. clip — to cut
  12. cell — in biology
  13. spring — a coil
  14. shower — to wash
  15. mug — a cup
  16. mug — to rob
  17. shower — a meteor shower
  18. cabinet — ministers
  19. clip — for paper
  20. cell — in a prison
  21. clip — a video
  22. cell — a phone
  23. date — on the calendar
  24. cabinet — a cupboard

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