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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. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  2. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  3. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  4. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  5. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  6. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  7. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  8. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  9. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  10. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  11. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  12. I can't ________________ this cold.
  13. The water is too ________________.
  14. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  15. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  16. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  17. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  18. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  19. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  20. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  21. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  22. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  23. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  24. The flowers bloom in the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — money
  2. mine — belonging to me
  3. cold — an illness
  4. bear — the animal
  5. bear — the animal
  6. capital — a city
  7. mine — an explosive
  8. stand — on your feet
  9. bear — to put up with
  10. present — there
  11. present — the time now
  12. stand — to bear
  13. cold — not warm
  14. root — of a plant
  15. root — the cause
  16. cold — the Cold War
  17. spring — of water
  18. present — a gift
  19. capital — a big letter
  20. stand — for spectators
  21. mine — for digging
  22. spring — a coil
  23. root — of a word
  24. spring — the season

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