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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 ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  2. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  3. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  4. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  5. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  6. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  7. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  8. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  9. How do you ________________ your surname?
  10. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  11. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  12. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  13. When are we going to ________________?
  14. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  15. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  16. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  17. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  18. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  19. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  20. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  21. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  22. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  23. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  24. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.

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

Answer key

  1. rest — what's left
  2. spring — the season
  3. land — ground
  4. march — the month
  5. bass — low music
  6. capital — money
  7. capital — a city
  8. prune — to trim
  9. spell — letters
  10. prune — to trim
  11. rest — a break
  12. prune — the fruit
  13. land — to come down
  14. bass — the instrument
  15. bass — the fish
  16. land — a country
  17. march — music
  18. spring — a coil
  19. spell — a short time
  20. spring — of water
  21. capital — a big letter
  22. spell — magic
  23. rest — what's left
  24. march — the month

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