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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. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  2. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  3. I like lots of butter on my ________________ in the morning.
  4. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  5. After the show, she was the ________________ of the town.
  6. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  7. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  8. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  9. That was a fun ________________.
  10. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  11. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  12. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  13. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  14. Positive actions can inspire others to follow ________________.
  15. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  16. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  17. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  18. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  19. I would like to propose a ________________ on your birthday.
  20. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  21. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  22. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  23. When will it ________________ you to start?
  24. The cuffs of his ________________ jacket are badly frayed.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — a city
  2. band — a music group
  3. toast — bread
  4. root — of a plant
  5. toast — the most admired
  6. spring — the season
  7. clip — to cut
  8. spring — a coil
  9. game — a match
  10. root — of a word
  11. root — the cause
  12. game — a kind of play
  13. capital — money
  14. suit — in cards
  15. clip — for paper
  16. clip — a video
  17. capital — a big letter
  18. band — a rubber band
  19. toast — a drink to someone
  20. spring — of water
  21. band — a ring
  22. game — wild animals
  23. suit — to fit
  24. suit — clothes

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