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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. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  2. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  3. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  4. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  5. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  6. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  7. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  8. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  9. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  10. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  11. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  12. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  13. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  14. He is an ace ________________.
  15. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  16. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  17. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  18. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  19. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  20. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  21. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  22. I'll be taking the ________________.
  23. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  24. Beijing is the ________________ of China.

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

Answer key

  1. pitcher — a jug
  2. present — a gift
  3. capital — a big letter
  4. tube — in a tire
  5. spring — a coil
  6. spring — of water
  7. patient — a sick person
  8. spring — the season
  9. present — the time now
  10. bat — the animal
  11. present — there
  12. pitcher — a jug
  13. bat — for baseball
  14. pitcher — in baseball
  15. fan — to cool the air
  16. fan — a supporter
  17. patient — calm and waiting
  18. tube — a container
  19. fan — a supporter
  20. capital — money
  21. bat — in an idiom
  22. tube — the underground
  23. patient — a sick person
  24. capital — a city

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