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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 polar ice ________________ is melting.
  2. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  3. You don't need to ________________ round.
  4. There's no middle ________________.
  5. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  6. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  7. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  8. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  9. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  10. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  11. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  12. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  13. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  14. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  15. We're almost out of ________________.
  16. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  17. It's one o'clock ________________.
  18. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  19. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  20. That must've been a ________________.
  21. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  22. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  23. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  24. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cap — of ice
  2. rush — hurry
  3. pop — to visit
  4. ground — a position
  5. pop — music
  6. capital — a city
  7. march — the month
  8. ground — crushed
  9. capital — a big letter
  10. spring — the season
  11. cap — a hat
  12. cap — a lid
  13. sharp — with an edge
  14. sharp — clever
  15. pop — soda
  16. march — music
  17. sharp — exactly
  18. spring — a coil
  19. capital — money
  20. rush — a thrill
  21. ground — the earth
  22. spring — of water
  23. rush — to hurry
  24. march — the month

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