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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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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: pitcher · spring · cold · lie · nail · game · fine · bore

  1. The water is too ________________.
  2. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  3. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  4. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  5. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  6. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  7. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  8. The ________________ went through the wall.
  9. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  10. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  11. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  12. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  13. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  14. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  15. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  16. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  17. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  18. That was a fun ________________.
  19. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  20. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  21. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  22. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  23. He is an ace ________________.
  24. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. game — wild animals
  3. lie — to recline
  4. pitcher — a jug
  5. fine — all right
  6. spring — of water
  7. pitcher — a jug
  8. nail — for a hammer
  9. lie — an untruth
  10. nail — for a hammer
  11. nail — on a finger
  12. spring — the season
  13. fine — high quality
  14. bore — to drill
  15. cold — an illness
  16. fine — a penalty
  17. spring — a coil
  18. game — a match
  19. lie — an untruth
  20. game — a kind of play
  21. bore — gave birth
  22. bore — to tire
  23. pitcher — in baseball
  24. cold — the Cold War

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