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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 hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  2. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  3. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  4. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  5. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  6. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  7. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  8. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  9. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  10. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  11. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  12. A ________________ helps one to draw a straight line.
  13. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  14. The people resisted their cruel ________________.
  15. The ________________ market has crashed.
  16. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  17. David sat on the ________________.
  18. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  19. Borders were drawn on the map using a ________________, with no regard for cultural realities on the ground.
  20. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  21. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  22. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  23. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  24. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.

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

Answer key

  1. spring — of water
  2. lean — to rest against
  3. capital — a city
  4. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  5. lean — to bend
  6. field — farmland
  7. spring — the season
  8. stock — a soup base
  9. swing — music
  10. swing — in golf
  11. field — for sport
  12. ruler — for measuring
  13. stock — goods
  14. ruler — a monarch
  15. stock — shares
  16. spring — a coil
  17. swing — to play on
  18. lean — thin
  19. ruler — for measuring
  20. kid — child
  21. capital — a big letter
  22. capital — money
  23. kid — to tease
  24. field — a subject

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