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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: kid · spring · mark · rush · cold · ground · bass · present

  1. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  2. That must've been a ________________.
  3. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  4. There's no middle ________________.
  5. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  6. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  7. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  8. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  9. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  10. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  11. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  12. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  13. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  14. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  15. The water is too ________________.
  16. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  17. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  18. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  19. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  20. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  21. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  22. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  23. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  24. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — child
  2. rush — a thrill
  3. ground — the earth
  4. ground — a position
  5. bass — the fish
  6. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  7. bass — low music
  8. kid — to tease
  9. rush — hurry
  10. present — there
  11. mark — a grade
  12. spring — of water
  13. present — a gift
  14. mark — to pay attention
  15. cold — not warm
  16. spring — a coil
  17. spring — the season
  18. rush — to hurry
  19. ground — crushed
  20. mark — a trace
  21. bass — the instrument
  22. present — the time now
  23. cold — an illness
  24. cold — the Cold War

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