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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 120 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
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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: pit · shower · key · ground · cold · game · row · spring

  1. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  2. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  3. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  6. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  7. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  8. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  9. That was a fun ________________.
  10. The water is too ________________.
  11. This piece is in a major ________________.
  12. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  13. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  14. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  15. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  16. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  17. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  18. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  19. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  20. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  21. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  22. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  23. There's no middle ________________.
  24. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.

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

Answer key

  1. row — to paddle
  2. ground — crushed
  3. row — a quarrel
  4. cold — an illness
  5. key — for a lock
  6. shower — to wash
  7. key — the most important part
  8. spring — of water
  9. game — a match
  10. cold — not warm
  11. key — in music
  12. pit — in a race
  13. spring — the season
  14. pit — a fruit stone
  15. ground — the earth
  16. shower — a meteor shower
  17. game — wild animals
  18. row — a line
  19. pit — a hole
  20. spring — a coil
  21. cold — the Cold War
  22. shower — rain
  23. ground — a position
  24. game — a kind of play

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