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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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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  2. The ________________ market has crashed.
  3. Have you met the new head ________________?
  4. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  5. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  6. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  7. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  8. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  9. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  10. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  11. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  12. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  13. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  14. My father caught me by the ________________.
  15. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  16. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  17. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  18. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.

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

Answer key

  1. spring — of water
  2. stock — shares
  3. coach — a trainer
  4. spring — the season
  5. capital — a big letter
  6. hand — help
  7. arm — part of the body
  8. stock — goods
  9. coach — pulled by horses
  10. stock — a soup base
  11. hand — part of the body
  12. capital — money
  13. hand — in cards
  14. arm — part of the body
  15. capital — a city
  16. spring — a coil
  17. coach — a trainer
  18. arm — a part of something

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