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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 120 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. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  2. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  3. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  4. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  5. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  6. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  7. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  8. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  9. The ball is in your ________________.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  12. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  13. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  16. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  17. David sat on the ________________.
  18. The water is too ________________.
  19. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  20. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  21. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  22. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  23. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  24. Can you turn the ________________ on?

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

Answer key

  1. fan — a supporter
  2. swing — music
  3. capital — a city
  4. patient — a sick person
  5. patient — a sick person
  6. capital — money
  7. spring — the season
  8. spring — a coil
  9. court — for sport
  10. cold — an illness
  11. swing — in golf
  12. court — of law
  13. court — of a king
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. patient — calm and waiting
  16. spring — of water
  17. swing — to play on
  18. cold — not warm
  19. fan — a supporter
  20. capital — a big letter
  21. wave — a sudden rise
  22. wave — with your hand
  23. wave — of the sea
  24. fan — to cool the air

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