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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. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  2. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  3. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  6. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  7. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  8. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  9. It's one o'clock ________________.
  10. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  11. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  12. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  13. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  14. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  15. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  16. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  17. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  18. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  19. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  20. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  21. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  22. The water is too ________________.
  23. Have you found your soul ________________?
  24. That was a fun ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. spring — the season
  2. capital — a city
  3. mate — to breed
  4. cold — an illness
  5. game — a kind of play
  6. capital — a big letter
  7. current — happening now
  8. game — wild animals
  9. sharp — exactly
  10. face — to confront
  11. sharp — with an edge
  12. spring — a coil
  13. cold — the Cold War
  14. sharp — clever
  15. mate — a friend
  16. current — electric
  17. capital — money
  18. current — of water
  19. spring — of water
  20. face — to point toward
  21. face — part of the head
  22. cold — not warm
  23. mate — a partner
  24. game — a match

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