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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: last · spring · hand · bear · lean · cold · pop · roll

  1. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  2. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  3. You don't need to ________________ round.
  4. We're almost out of ________________.
  5. False peace will not ________________.
  6. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  7. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  8. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  9. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  10. We're on a ________________ here.
  11. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  12. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  13. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  16. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  17. The water is too ________________.
  18. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  19. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  20. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  21. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  22. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  23. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  24. At ________________, we arrived at the village.

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

Answer key

  1. spring — the season
  2. spring — of water
  3. pop — to visit
  4. pop — soda
  5. last — to go on
  6. lean — thin
  7. last — final
  8. pop — music
  9. spring — a coil
  10. roll — on a roll
  11. hand — help
  12. lean — to bend
  13. cold — an illness
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. hand — part of the body
  16. bear — to put up with
  17. cold — not warm
  18. roll — a list
  19. hand — in cards
  20. bear — the animal
  21. roll — a cake
  22. bear — the animal
  23. lean — to rest against
  24. last — finally

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