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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. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  2. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  3. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  4. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  5. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  6. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  7. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  8. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  9. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  10. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  11. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  12. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  13. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  14. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  15. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  16. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  17. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  18. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  19. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  20. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  21. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  22. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  23. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  24. Did you ________________ the meat?

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

Answer key

  1. spring — a coil
  2. tear — from crying
  3. snap — to click
  4. bat — for baseball
  5. tear — to rip
  6. season — of the year
  7. bat — the animal
  8. snap — to snap out of it
  9. capital — money
  10. fork — to eat with
  11. band — a rubber band
  12. spring — the season
  13. season — in sport
  14. fork — a garden tool
  15. capital — a big letter
  16. band — a ring
  17. bat — in an idiom
  18. capital — a city
  19. fork — in a road
  20. spring — of water
  21. tear — from crying
  22. snap — to speak sharply
  23. band — a music group
  24. season — to add flavour

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