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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. You don't need to ________________ round.
  2. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  3. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  4. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  5. We're almost out of ________________.
  6. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  7. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  8. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  9. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  10. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  11. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  12. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  13. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  14. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  15. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  16. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  17. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  18. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  19. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  20. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  21. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  22. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  23. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  24. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.

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

Answer key

  1. pop — to visit
  2. capital — money
  3. lash — a whip stroke
  4. row — a line
  5. pop — soda
  6. leaves — to go away
  7. capital — a city
  8. field — a subject
  9. leaves — of a tree
  10. lash — to lash out
  11. spring — a coil
  12. row — a quarrel
  13. lash — an eyelash
  14. spring — of water
  15. pop — music
  16. trunk — of an elephant
  17. capital — a big letter
  18. row — to paddle
  19. spring — the season
  20. trunk — of a car
  21. field — farmland
  22. trunk — of a tree
  23. field — for sport
  24. leaves — lets stay

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