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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 hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  2. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  3. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  4. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  5. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  6. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  7. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  8. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  9. He is an ace ________________.
  10. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  11. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  12. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  13. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  14. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  15. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  16. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  17. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  18. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  19. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  20. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  21. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  22. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  23. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  24. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.

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

Answer key

  1. spring — of water
  2. face — part of the head
  3. capital — a city
  4. capital — money
  5. face — to confront
  6. band — a ring
  7. kid — to tease
  8. pitcher — a jug
  9. pitcher — in baseball
  10. band — a rubber band
  11. spring — the season
  12. face — to point toward
  13. pitcher — a jug
  14. kid — child
  15. drill — a practice
  16. mouse — for a computer
  17. band — a music group
  18. drill — the tool
  19. capital — a big letter
  20. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  21. mouse — the animal
  22. drill — army training
  23. mouse — the animal
  24. spring — a coil

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