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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 muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  2. After the show, she was the ________________ of the town.
  3. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  4. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  5. I would like to propose a ________________ on your birthday.
  6. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  7. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  8. The King held a masked ________________.
  9. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  10. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  11. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  12. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  13. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  14. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  15. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  16. I like lots of butter on my ________________ in the morning.
  17. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  18. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  19. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  20. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  21. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  22. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  23. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  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. track — a path
  2. toast — the most admired
  3. spring — of water
  4. capital — a big letter
  5. toast — a drink to someone
  6. track — a song
  7. rule — a law
  8. ball — a dance
  9. track — to keep track
  10. tear — from crying
  11. rule — to rule out
  12. capital — a city
  13. tear — to rip
  14. tear — from crying
  15. spring — the season
  16. toast — bread
  17. ball — a round shape
  18. bark — of a tree
  19. rule — government
  20. capital — money
  21. bark — to shout
  22. bark — a dog's sound
  23. ball — a great time
  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