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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: mate · fork · wind · jam · spring · game · bat · wound

  1. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  2. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  3. Have you found your soul ________________?
  4. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  5. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  6. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  7. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  8. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  9. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  10. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  11. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  12. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  13. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  14. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  15. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  16. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  17. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  18. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  19. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  20. Tom got himself in a ________________.
  21. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  22. Would you like some apricot ________________?
  23. The bus was late because of the traffic ________________.
  24. That was a fun ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. spring — the season
  2. mate — a friend
  3. mate — a partner
  4. game — a kind of play
  5. wind — moving air
  6. wound — past of 'wind'
  7. fork — in a road
  8. bat — for baseball
  9. wound — an injury
  10. mate — to breed
  11. game — wild animals
  12. fork — to eat with
  13. wound — an injury
  14. wind — moving air
  15. fork — a garden tool
  16. wind — to turn a key
  17. bat — in an idiom
  18. bat — the animal
  19. spring — a coil
  20. jam — a tight spot
  21. spring — of water
  22. jam — to spread on bread
  23. jam — in traffic
  24. game — a match

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