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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. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  2. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  3. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  4. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  5. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  6. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  7. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  8. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  9. When are we going to ________________?
  10. He is an ace ________________.
  11. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  12. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  13. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  14. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  15. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  16. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  17. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  18. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  19. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  20. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  21. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  22. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  23. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  24. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — a city
  2. chair — a leader
  3. spring — a coil
  4. chair — to sit on
  5. mark — a trace
  6. spring — of water
  7. mark — to pay attention
  8. spring — the season
  9. land — to come down
  10. pitcher — in baseball
  11. pitcher — a jug
  12. capital — a big letter
  13. pitcher — a jug
  14. root — the cause
  15. land — ground
  16. hide — animal skin
  17. hide — to keep secret
  18. root — of a plant
  19. root — of a word
  20. hide — to keep secret
  21. mark — a grade
  22. chair — a professorship
  23. capital — money
  24. land — a country

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

Make a worksheet (0 words)

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