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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. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  2. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  3. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  4. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  5. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  6. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  7. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  8. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  9. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  10. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  11. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  12. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  13. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  14. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  15. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  16. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  17. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  18. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.

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

Answer key

  1. spring — a coil
  2. content — happy
  3. capital — a big letter
  4. squash — the vegetable
  5. content — videos and posts
  6. squash — to crush
  7. squash — the sport
  8. wind — moving air
  9. spring — the season
  10. wind — moving air
  11. spring — of water
  12. vault — a safe
  13. vault — an arched ceiling
  14. capital — a city
  15. wind — to turn a key
  16. content — the amount
  17. capital — money
  18. vault — in gymnastics

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