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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 beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  2. Would you like some apricot ________________?
  3. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  4. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  5. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  6. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  7. That was ________________ to happen.
  8. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  9. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  10. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  11. Tom got himself in a ________________.
  12. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  13. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  14. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  15. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  16. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  17. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  18. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  19. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  20. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  21. When are we going to ________________?
  22. The bus was late because of the traffic ________________.
  23. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  24. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — a big letter
  2. jam — to spread on bread
  3. bore — to tire
  4. spring — a coil
  5. bore — gave birth
  6. band — a rubber band
  7. bound — certain
  8. land — ground
  9. field — farmland
  10. bound — tied together
  11. jam — a tight spot
  12. band — a ring
  13. land — a country
  14. bound — obliged
  15. spring — the season
  16. band — a music group
  17. bore — to drill
  18. capital — a city
  19. capital — money
  20. field — a subject
  21. land — to come down
  22. jam — in traffic
  23. spring — of water
  24. field — for sport

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