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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. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  3. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  4. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  5. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  6. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  7. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  8. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  9. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  10. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  11. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  12. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  13. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  14. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  15. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  16. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  17. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  18. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  19. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  20. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  21. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  22. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  23. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  24. Beijing is the ________________ of China.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — a big letter
  2. band — a music group
  3. drill — the tool
  4. wake — to stop sleeping
  5. capital — money
  6. band — a rubber band
  7. hide — to keep secret
  8. snap — to click
  9. wake — a trail
  10. band — a ring
  11. snap — to snap out of it
  12. snap — to speak sharply
  13. hide — animal skin
  14. hide — to keep secret
  15. content — videos and posts
  16. drill — a practice
  17. drill — army training
  18. wake — before a funeral
  19. content — happy
  20. spring — a coil
  21. spring — of water
  22. content — the amount
  23. spring — the season
  24. capital — a city

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