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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 116 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's taking a ________________ right now.
  2. This piece is in a major ________________.
  3. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  4. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  5. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  6. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  7. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  8. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  9. It's one o'clock ________________.
  10. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  11. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  12. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  13. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  14. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  15. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  16. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  17. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  18. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  19. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  20. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  21. Where did you ________________ them?
  22. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  23. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  24. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. shower — to wash
  2. key — in music
  3. capital — a city
  4. straw — dry grass
  5. spring — the season
  6. spring — of water
  7. capital — a big letter
  8. hand — help
  9. sharp — exactly
  10. key — for a lock
  11. sharp — with an edge
  12. shower — rain
  13. sharp — clever
  14. mug — a face
  15. hand — part of the body
  16. shower — a meteor shower
  17. capital — money
  18. key — the most important part
  19. hand — in cards
  20. spring — a coil
  21. mug — to rob
  22. straw — a straw man
  23. mug — a cup
  24. straw — to clutch at straws

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