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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 116 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. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  2. The King held a masked ________________.
  3. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  4. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  5. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  6. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  7. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  8. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  9. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  10. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  11. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  12. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  13. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  14. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  15. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  16. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  17. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  18. There's no middle ________________.
  19. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  20. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  21. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  22. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  23. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  24. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.

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

Answer key

  1. ground — crushed
  2. ball — a dance
  3. ball — a round shape
  4. capital — a big letter
  5. band — a ring
  6. fork — in a road
  7. capital — money
  8. capital — a city
  9. tear — from crying
  10. ground — the earth
  11. tear — from crying
  12. branch — of a bank
  13. spring — the season
  14. band — a rubber band
  15. band — a music group
  16. spring — of water
  17. tear — to rip
  18. ground — a position
  19. fork — to eat with
  20. branch — a division
  21. branch — of a tree
  22. ball — a great time
  23. fork — a garden tool
  24. spring — a coil

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