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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: cabinet · spring · rock · face · coach · cell · game · chest

  1. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  2. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  3. What do you think of the new ________________?
  4. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  5. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  6. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  7. That was a fun ________________.
  8. Have you met the new head ________________?
  9. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  10. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  11. He was locked up in a ________________.
  12. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  13. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  14. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  15. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  16. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  17. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  18. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  19. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  20. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  21. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  22. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  23. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  24. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. rock — music
  2. spring — of water
  3. cabinet — ministers
  4. spring — a coil
  5. coach — a trainer
  6. coach — pulled by horses
  7. game — a match
  8. coach — a trainer
  9. rock — a stone
  10. chest — of your body
  11. cell — in a prison
  12. chest — a box
  13. chest — of your body
  14. game — a kind of play
  15. face — to confront
  16. spring — the season
  17. face — part of the head
  18. cell — in biology
  19. cabinet — ministers
  20. face — to point toward
  21. cell — a phone
  22. cabinet — a cupboard
  23. rock — to move gently
  24. game — wild animals

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