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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. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  2. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  3. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  4. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  5. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  6. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  7. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  8. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  9. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  10. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  11. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  12. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  13. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  14. David sat on the ________________.
  15. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  16. The water is too ________________.
  17. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  18. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  19. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  20. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  21. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  22. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  23. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  24. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — money
  2. bass — the fish
  3. spring — a coil
  4. cold — the Cold War
  5. row — to paddle
  6. capital — a big letter
  7. bass — low music
  8. bass — the instrument
  9. calf — of the leg
  10. row — a quarrel
  11. capital — a city
  12. swing — in golf
  13. spring — the season
  14. swing — to play on
  15. cold — an illness
  16. cold — not warm
  17. leaves — lets stay
  18. leaves — of a tree
  19. row — a line
  20. calf — a young animal
  21. calf — a young animal
  22. spring — of water
  23. leaves — to go away
  24. swing — music

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