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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. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  2. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  3. We're almost out of ________________.
  4. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  5. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  6. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  7. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  8. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  9. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  10. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  11. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  12. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  13. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  14. That must've been a ________________.
  15. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  16. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  17. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  18. You don't need to ________________ round.
  19. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  20. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  21. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  22. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  23. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  24. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.

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

Answer key

  1. rush — hurry
  2. capital — a city
  3. pop — soda
  4. stem — a stem cell
  5. drill — the tool
  6. rush — to hurry
  7. drill — a practice
  8. dip — to dunk
  9. dip — to sink
  10. spring — the season
  11. pop — music
  12. fine — a penalty
  13. fine — all right
  14. rush — a thrill
  15. stem — of a plant
  16. capital — a big letter
  17. dip — a sauce
  18. pop — to visit
  19. fine — high quality
  20. capital — money
  21. stem — to come from
  22. spring — of water
  23. spring — a coil
  24. drill — army training

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