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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 black ________________ roamed the forest.
  2. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  3. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  4. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  5. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  6. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  9. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  10. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  11. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  12. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  13. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  14. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  15. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  16. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  17. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  18. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  19. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  20. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  21. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  22. The water is too ________________.
  23. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  24. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.

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

Answer key

  1. bear — the animal
  2. capital — a big letter
  3. cold — the Cold War
  4. spring — a coil
  5. spring — the season
  6. mine — belonging to me
  7. cold — an illness
  8. pit — a hole
  9. bear — the animal
  10. mine — for digging
  11. calf — of the leg
  12. pit — a fruit stone
  13. row — a line
  14. bear — to put up with
  15. capital — a city
  16. calf — a young animal
  17. spring — of water
  18. capital — money
  19. row — to paddle
  20. row — a quarrel
  21. calf — a young animal
  22. cold — not warm
  23. mine — an explosive
  24. pit — in a race

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