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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. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  2. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  3. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  4. David sat on the ________________.
  5. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  6. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  7. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  8. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  9. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  10. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  11. What do you think of the new ________________?
  12. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  13. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  14. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  15. When are we going to ________________?
  16. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  17. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  18. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  19. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  20. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  21. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  22. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  23. I'll be taking the ________________.
  24. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. land — a country
  2. spring — the season
  3. swing — music
  4. swing — to play on
  5. capital — money
  6. spring — a coil
  7. wax — to grow
  8. swing — in golf
  9. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  10. spring — of water
  11. cabinet — ministers
  12. cabinet — ministers
  13. tube — in a tire
  14. capital — a city
  15. land — to come down
  16. kid — child
  17. wax — for sculpting
  18. wax — in the ear
  19. kid — to tease
  20. cabinet — a cupboard
  21. capital — a big letter
  22. tube — a container
  23. tube — the underground
  24. land — ground

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