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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. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  3. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  4. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  5. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  6. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  7. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  8. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  9. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  10. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  11. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  12. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  13. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  14. The ________________ took off on time.
  15. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  16. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  17. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  18. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  19. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  20. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  21. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  22. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  23. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  24. The water is too ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. spring — of water
  2. cold — an illness
  3. straw — to clutch at straws
  4. cold — the Cold War
  5. plane — a tool
  6. spring — the season
  7. capital — a big letter
  8. fan — a supporter
  9. plane — in geometry
  10. straw — a straw man
  11. fan — to cool the air
  12. straw — dry grass
  13. wind — to turn a key
  14. plane — an aircraft
  15. fan — a supporter
  16. pitch — completely
  17. pitch — a sales talk
  18. wind — moving air
  19. pitch — a sports field
  20. wind — moving air
  21. spring — a coil
  22. capital — money
  23. capital — a city
  24. cold — not warm

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