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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 120 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. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  3. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  4. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  5. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  6. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  7. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  8. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  9. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  10. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  11. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  12. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  13. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  14. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  15. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  16. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  17. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  18. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  19. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  20. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  21. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  22. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  23. That must've been a ________________.
  24. ________________ you help me carry this box?

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

Answer key

  1. capital — a city
  2. cap — a hat
  3. spring — the season
  4. can — a tin
  5. rush — hurry
  6. rush — to hurry
  7. march — the month
  8. can — a tin
  9. capital — money
  10. cap — a lid
  11. branch — of a tree
  12. capital — a big letter
  13. march — music
  14. bark — of a tree
  15. cap — of ice
  16. bark — a dog's sound
  17. bark — to shout
  18. spring — of water
  19. branch — a division
  20. march — the month
  21. spring — a coil
  22. branch — of a bank
  23. rush — a thrill
  24. can — to be able to

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