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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. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  2. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  3. He was locked up in a ________________.
  4. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  5. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  6. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  7. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  8. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  9. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  10. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  11. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  12. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  13. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  14. Don't do anything ________________.
  15. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  16. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  17. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  18. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  19. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  20. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  21. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  22. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  23. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  24. Did you ________________ the meat?

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

Answer key

  1. rash — on the skin
  2. season — in sport
  3. cell — in a prison
  4. race — a contest
  5. capital — a big letter
  6. spring — the season
  7. spring — a coil
  8. cell — a phone
  9. cap — a lid
  10. capital — money
  11. season — of the year
  12. race — the arms race
  13. cap — of ice
  14. rash — hasty
  15. cell — in biology
  16. squash — the sport
  17. rash — a series
  18. squash — the vegetable
  19. spring — of water
  20. squash — to crush
  21. cap — a hat
  22. capital — a city
  23. race — humankind
  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