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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 124 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. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  3. Have you met the new head ________________?
  4. We're on a ________________ here.
  5. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  6. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  7. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  8. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  9. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  10. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  11. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  12. The ball is in your ________________.
  13. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  14. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  15. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  16. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  17. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  18. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  19. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  20. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  21. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  22. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  23. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  24. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?

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

Answer key

  1. spring — of water
  2. file — a line of people
  3. coach — a trainer
  4. roll — on a roll
  5. capital — a city
  6. roll — a cake
  7. file — a tool
  8. court — of a king
  9. court — of law
  10. bore — to drill
  11. spring — a coil
  12. court — for sport
  13. degree — an amount
  14. degree — temperature
  15. capital — a big letter
  16. file — a document
  17. roll — a list
  18. degree — from a university
  19. bore — gave birth
  20. coach — a trainer
  21. capital — money
  22. coach — pulled by horses
  23. spring — the season
  24. bore — to tire

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