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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 flowers bloom in the ________________.
  2. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  3. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  4. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  5. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  6. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  7. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  8. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  9. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  10. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  11. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  12. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  13. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  14. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  15. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  16. How do you ________________ your surname?
  17. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  18. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  19. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  20. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  21. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  22. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  23. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  24. I would like to have a ________________ here.

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

Answer key

  1. spring — the season
  2. wind — to turn a key
  3. capital — a big letter
  4. shower — rain
  5. wind — moving air
  6. wind — moving air
  7. spring — a coil
  8. rest — what's left
  9. capital — money
  10. shower — a meteor shower
  11. shower — to wash
  12. spell — a short time
  13. capital — a city
  14. rest — what's left
  15. present — there
  16. spell — letters
  17. spring — of water
  18. file — a tool
  19. present — a gift
  20. spell — magic
  21. present — the time now
  22. file — a line of people
  23. file — a document
  24. rest — a break

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