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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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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: firm · spring · kid · last · land · staff · present · shower

  1. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  2. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  3. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  4. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  5. False peace will not ________________.
  6. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  7. I'll stand ________________ for what I deserve.
  8. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  9. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  10. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  11. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  12. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  13. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  14. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  15. When are we going to ________________?
  16. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  17. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  18. Nothing provides more peace of mind than a ________________ decision.
  19. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  20. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  21. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  22. She works as an advertiser at a New Jersey ________________.
  23. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  24. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.

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

Answer key

  1. staff — employees
  2. shower — to wash
  3. last — finally
  4. kid — child
  5. last — to go on
  6. land — a country
  7. firm — steady
  8. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  9. present — there
  10. spring — of water
  11. land — ground
  12. shower — rain
  13. kid — to tease
  14. present — the time now
  15. land — to come down
  16. present — a gift
  17. shower — a meteor shower
  18. firm — decided
  19. spring — the season
  20. last — final
  21. staff — employees
  22. firm — a company
  23. staff — a stick
  24. spring — a coil

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