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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. We're on a ________________ here.
  2. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  3. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  4. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  5. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  6. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  7. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  8. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  9. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  10. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  11. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  12. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  13. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  14. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  15. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  16. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  17. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  18. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  19. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  20. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  21. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  22. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  23. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  24. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.

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

Answer key

  1. roll — on a roll
  2. spring — the season
  3. track — to keep track
  4. wind — moving air
  5. capital — a city
  6. bat — for baseball
  7. wake — a trail
  8. wake — to stop sleeping
  9. spring — of water
  10. track — a song
  11. bat — in an idiom
  12. capital — a big letter
  13. roll — a list
  14. track — a path
  15. band — a ring
  16. wind — to turn a key
  17. band — a music group
  18. wind — moving air
  19. capital — money
  20. roll — a cake
  21. spring — a coil
  22. wake — before a funeral
  23. band — a rubber band
  24. bat — the animal

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