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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.

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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: shower · spell · cell · spring · game · track · ground · fork

  1. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  2. There's no middle ________________.
  3. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  4. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  5. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  6. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  7. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  8. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  9. How do you ________________ your surname?
  10. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  11. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  12. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  13. He was locked up in a ________________.
  14. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  15. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  16. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  17. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  18. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  19. That was a fun ________________.
  20. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  21. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  22. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  23. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  24. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.

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

Answer key

  1. spring — a coil
  2. ground — a position
  3. game — wild animals
  4. track — a song
  5. fork — in a road
  6. spell — a short time
  7. spring — the season
  8. ground — the earth
  9. spell — letters
  10. fork — a garden tool
  11. shower — to wash
  12. spell — magic
  13. cell — in a prison
  14. fork — to eat with
  15. ground — crushed
  16. spring — of water
  17. track — to keep track
  18. cell — in biology
  19. game — a match
  20. shower — rain
  21. cell — a phone
  22. track — a path
  23. shower — a meteor shower
  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