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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. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  2. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  3. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  4. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  5. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  6. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  7. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  8. There's no middle ________________.
  9. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  10. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  11. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  12. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  13. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  14. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  15. I'll be taking the ________________.
  16. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  17. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  18. Have you found your soul ________________?
  19. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  20. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  21. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  22. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  23. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  24. Add some ________________ pepper to it.

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

Answer key

  1. tube — a container
  2. spring — of water
  3. hand — help
  4. branch — of a bank
  5. mate — to breed
  6. capital — money
  7. branch — of a tree
  8. ground — a position
  9. hand — part of the body
  10. racket — for tennis
  11. ground — the earth
  12. capital — a big letter
  13. hand — in cards
  14. mate — a friend
  15. tube — the underground
  16. tube — in a tire
  17. racket — for tennis
  18. mate — a partner
  19. spring — a coil
  20. spring — the season
  21. branch — a division
  22. capital — a city
  23. racket — a loud noise
  24. ground — crushed

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