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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 116 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: key · fork · wind · spring · game · press · straw · stem

  1. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  2. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  3. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  4. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  5. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  6. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  7. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  8. That was a fun ________________.
  9. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  10. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  11. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  12. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  13. Did you ________________ the button?
  14. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  15. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  16. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  17. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  18. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  19. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  20. This piece is in a major ________________.
  21. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  22. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  23. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  24. Hard work is the ________________ to success.

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

Answer key

  1. key — for a lock
  2. spring — the season
  3. stem — to come from
  4. game — a kind of play
  5. wind — moving air
  6. wind — to turn a key
  7. fork — to eat with
  8. game — a match
  9. press — newspapers
  10. straw — a straw man
  11. press — a publisher
  12. stem — a stem cell
  13. press — to push
  14. spring — a coil
  15. fork — in a road
  16. straw — dry grass
  17. fork — a garden tool
  18. spring — of water
  19. game — wild animals
  20. key — in music
  21. straw — to clutch at straws
  22. stem — of a plant
  23. wind — moving air
  24. key — the most important part

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