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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 beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  2. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  3. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  4. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  5. The light ________________ burned out.
  6. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  7. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  8. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  9. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  10. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  11. It's one o'clock ________________.
  12. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  13. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  14. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  15. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  16. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  17. I've got to change the light ________________.
  18. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  19. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  20. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  21. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  22. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  23. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  24. David sat on the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — a big letter
  2. spring — of water
  3. capital — a city
  4. spring — a coil
  5. bulb — for light
  6. mouse — the animal
  7. swing — in golf
  8. sharp — clever
  9. swing — music
  10. bass — low music
  11. sharp — exactly
  12. bass — the instrument
  13. mouse — the animal
  14. mouse — for a computer
  15. sharp — with an edge
  16. bulb — of a plant
  17. bulb — for light
  18. bass — the fish
  19. clip — to cut
  20. capital — money
  21. clip — for paper
  22. clip — a video
  23. spring — the season
  24. swing — to play on

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