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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 116 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 beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  2. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  3. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  4. The water is too ________________.
  5. He is an ace ________________.
  6. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  7. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  8. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  9. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  10. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  11. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  12. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  13. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  14. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  15. Did you ________________ the meat?
  16. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  17. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  18. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  19. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  20. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  21. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  22. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  23. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  24. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — a big letter
  2. season — in sport
  3. pitcher — a jug
  4. cold — not warm
  5. pitcher — in baseball
  6. spring — the season
  7. pitcher — a jug
  8. cold — an illness
  9. spring — of water
  10. spring — a coil
  11. wake — a trail
  12. cold — the Cold War
  13. calf — a young animal
  14. bear — the animal
  15. season — to add flavour
  16. bear — to put up with
  17. calf — a young animal
  18. capital — a city
  19. calf — of the leg
  20. bear — the animal
  21. season — of the year
  22. wake — to stop sleeping
  23. wake — before a funeral
  24. capital — money

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