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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. Would you like some apricot ________________?
  2. Tom got himself in a ________________.
  3. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  4. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  5. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  6. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  7. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  8. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  9. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  10. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  11. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  12. When are we going to ________________?
  13. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  14. The King held a masked ________________.
  15. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  16. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  17. The bus was late because of the traffic ________________.
  18. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  19. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  20. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  21. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  22. How do you ________________ your surname?
  23. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  24. A ________________ is just a dried plum.

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

Answer key

  1. jam — to spread on bread
  2. jam — a tight spot
  3. capital — a big letter
  4. spell — magic
  5. spring — the season
  6. spring — of water
  7. kid — to tease
  8. spring — a coil
  9. spell — a short time
  10. prune — to trim
  11. ball — a great time
  12. land — to come down
  13. ball — a round shape
  14. ball — a dance
  15. capital — money
  16. land — ground
  17. jam — in traffic
  18. land — a country
  19. prune — to trim
  20. capital — a city
  21. kid — child
  22. spell — letters
  23. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  24. prune — the fruit

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