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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. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  2. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  3. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  4. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  5. The water is too ________________.
  6. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  7. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  8. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  9. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  10. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  11. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  12. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  13. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  14. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  15. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  16. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  17. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  18. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  19. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  20. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  21. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  22. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  23. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  24. The flowers bloom in the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — money
  2. wave — a sudden rise
  3. spring — of water
  4. lean — to rest against
  5. cold — not warm
  6. trunk — of a tree
  7. capital — a big letter
  8. bark — of a tree
  9. club — for golf
  10. club — a group
  11. lean — to bend
  12. cold — an illness
  13. wave — with your hand
  14. bark — a dog's sound
  15. club — for dancing
  16. spring — a coil
  17. bark — to shout
  18. lean — thin
  19. wave — of the sea
  20. trunk — of a car
  21. capital — a city
  22. trunk — of an elephant
  23. cold — the Cold War
  24. spring — the season

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