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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 beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  2. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  3. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  4. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  5. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  6. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  7. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  8. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  9. I'll be taking the ________________.
  10. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  11. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  12. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  13. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  14. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  15. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  16. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  17. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  18. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  19. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  20. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  21. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  22. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  23. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  24. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — a big letter
  2. field — farmland
  3. capital — a city
  4. mine — an explosive
  5. fan — a supporter
  6. spring — of water
  7. mine — for digging
  8. mine — belonging to me
  9. tube — the underground
  10. capital — money
  11. fan — to cool the air
  12. fork — in a road
  13. trunk — of a car
  14. field — a subject
  15. spring — a coil
  16. tube — a container
  17. fork — a garden tool
  18. fan — a supporter
  19. field — for sport
  20. spring — the season
  21. trunk — of a tree
  22. trunk — of an elephant
  23. fork — to eat with
  24. tube — in a 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