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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 party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  2. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  3. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  4. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  5. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  6. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  7. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  8. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  9. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  10. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  11. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  12. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  13. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  14. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  15. Don't do anything ________________.
  16. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  17. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  18. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  19. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  20. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  21. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  22. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  23. The ________________ market has crashed.
  24. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.

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

Answer key

  1. rash — a series
  2. mouse — for a computer
  3. capital — a city
  4. shower — to wash
  5. capital — money
  6. mouse — the animal
  7. stock — goods
  8. snap — to snap out of it
  9. spring — of water
  10. rash — on the skin
  11. capital — a big letter
  12. stock — a soup base
  13. stem — to come from
  14. shower — a meteor shower
  15. rash — hasty
  16. shower — rain
  17. stem — a stem cell
  18. spring — the season
  19. spring — a coil
  20. mouse — the animal
  21. snap — to click
  22. stem — of a plant
  23. stock — shares
  24. snap — to speak sharply

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