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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. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  2. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  3. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  4. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  5. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  6. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  7. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  8. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  9. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  10. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  11. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  12. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  13. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  14. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  15. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  16. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  17. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  18. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  19. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  20. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  21. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  22. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  23. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  24. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.

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

Answer key

  1. spring — the season
  2. capital — a city
  3. patient — a sick person
  4. bat — in an idiom
  5. capital — a big letter
  6. patient — calm and waiting
  7. chip — to eat
  8. capital — money
  9. bat — for baseball
  10. chip — in a computer
  11. mine — belonging to me
  12. vault — in gymnastics
  13. chip — for betting
  14. mine — for digging
  15. rule — to rule out
  16. spring — a coil
  17. vault — an arched ceiling
  18. patient — a sick person
  19. rule — a law
  20. spring — of water
  21. mine — an explosive
  22. rule — government
  23. vault — a safe
  24. bat — the animal

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