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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. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  2. You don't need to ________________ round.
  3. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  4. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  5. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  6. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  7. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  8. That must've been a ________________.
  9. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  10. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  11. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  12. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  13. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  14. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  15. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  16. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  17. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  18. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  19. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  20. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  21. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  22. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  23. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  24. We're almost out of ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. can — to be able to
  2. pop — to visit
  3. tear — from crying
  4. capital — a big letter
  5. can — a tin
  6. tear — to rip
  7. mine — for digging
  8. rush — a thrill
  9. bat — the animal
  10. spring — the season
  11. rush — hurry
  12. bat — for baseball
  13. bat — in an idiom
  14. rush — to hurry
  15. can — a tin
  16. spring — a coil
  17. capital — a city
  18. tear — from crying
  19. mine — belonging to me
  20. capital — money
  21. pop — music
  22. spring — of water
  23. mine — an explosive
  24. pop — soda

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