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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. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  2. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  3. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  4. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  5. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  6. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  7. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  8. Don't do anything ________________.
  9. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  10. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  11. The water is too ________________.
  12. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  13. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  14. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  15. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  16. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  17. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  18. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  19. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  20. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  21. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  22. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  23. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  24. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.

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

Answer key

  1. present — there
  2. stick — a piece of wood
  3. rash — a series
  4. present — the time now
  5. spring — a coil
  6. capital — a city
  7. capital — a big letter
  8. rash — hasty
  9. band — a rubber band
  10. stick — to attach or keep to
  11. cold — not warm
  12. chip — in a computer
  13. band — a ring
  14. rash — on the skin
  15. stick — a piece of wood
  16. band — a music group
  17. chip — for betting
  18. present — a gift
  19. spring — of water
  20. capital — money
  21. cold — an illness
  22. spring — the season
  23. chip — to eat
  24. cold — the Cold War

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