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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. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  2. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  3. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  4. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  5. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  6. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  7. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  8. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  9. The ________________ went through the wall.
  10. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  11. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  12. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  13. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  14. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  15. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  16. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  17. When are we going to ________________?
  18. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  19. The ________________ market has crashed.
  20. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  21. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  22. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  23. The ball is in your ________________.
  24. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. nail — for a hammer
  2. land — ground
  3. spring — the season
  4. capital — a big letter
  5. content — videos and posts
  6. nail — on a finger
  7. spring — a coil
  8. stock — a soup base
  9. nail — for a hammer
  10. stock — goods
  11. land — a country
  12. row — a quarrel
  13. court — of a king
  14. content — the amount
  15. content — happy
  16. spring — of water
  17. land — to come down
  18. court — of law
  19. stock — shares
  20. row — a line
  21. row — to paddle
  22. capital — a city
  23. court — for sport
  24. capital — money

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