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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. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  3. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  4. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  5. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  6. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  7. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  8. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  9. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  10. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  11. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  12. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  13. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  14. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  15. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  16. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  17. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  18. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  19. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  20. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  21. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  22. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  23. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  24. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.

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

Answer key

  1. spring — the season
  2. mark — to pay attention
  3. capital — a city
  4. face — to point toward
  5. tear — to rip
  6. tear — from crying
  7. capital — a big letter
  8. spring — of water
  9. mark — a grade
  10. face — part of the head
  11. lash — a whip stroke
  12. face — to confront
  13. lash — to lash out
  14. spring — a coil
  15. kid — to tease
  16. tear — from crying
  17. mark — a trace
  18. chest — of your body
  19. lash — an eyelash
  20. chest — of your body
  21. capital — money
  22. kid — child
  23. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  24. chest — a box

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