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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. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  3. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  4. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  5. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  6. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  7. Have you settled on a ________________?
  8. Would you like some apricot ________________?
  9. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  10. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  11. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  12. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  13. Tom got himself in a ________________.
  14. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  15. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  16. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  17. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  18. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  19. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  20. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  21. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  22. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  23. The bus was late because of the traffic ________________.
  24. The ball is in your ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. spring — the season
  2. court — of law
  3. bark — a dog's sound
  4. capital — a big letter
  5. capital — a city
  6. capital — money
  7. date — on the calendar
  8. jam — to spread on bread
  9. bark — to shout
  10. chest — of your body
  11. chest — of your body
  12. date — the fruit
  13. jam — a tight spot
  14. spring — of water
  15. kick — with a leg
  16. spring — a coil
  17. kick — a thrill
  18. bark — of a tree
  19. kick — in football
  20. chest — a box
  21. date — on the calendar
  22. court — of a king
  23. jam — in traffic
  24. court — for sport

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