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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 beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  2. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  3. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  4. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  5. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  6. Did you ________________ the button?
  7. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  8. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  9. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  10. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  11. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  12. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  13. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  14. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  15. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  16. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  17. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  18. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  19. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  20. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  21. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  22. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  23. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  24. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — a big letter
  2. capital — a city
  3. spring — the season
  4. band — a music group
  5. press — newspapers
  6. press — to push
  7. hand — help
  8. mine — an explosive
  9. calf — a young animal
  10. net — for catching
  11. net — after costs
  12. band — a ring
  13. calf — a young animal
  14. press — a publisher
  15. mine — belonging to me
  16. net — in sport
  17. capital — money
  18. hand — in cards
  19. hand — part of the body
  20. calf — of the leg
  21. spring — a coil
  22. mine — for digging
  23. band — a rubber band
  24. spring — of water

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