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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. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  2. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  3. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  4. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  5. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  6. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  7. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  8. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  9. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  10. I'll be taking the ________________.
  11. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  12. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  13. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  14. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  15. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  16. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  17. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  18. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  19. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  20. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  21. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  22. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  23. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  24. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — a city
  2. stick — a piece of wood
  3. hand — help
  4. tube — a container
  5. capital — a big letter
  6. shower — to wash
  7. shower — rain
  8. stick — a piece of wood
  9. hand — part of the body
  10. tube — the underground
  11. spring — the season
  12. wound — past of 'wind'
  13. tube — in a tire
  14. shower — a meteor shower
  15. spring — of water
  16. capital — money
  17. hand — in cards
  18. wound — an injury
  19. stick — to attach or keep to
  20. wound — an injury
  21. bear — to put up with
  22. bear — the animal
  23. spring — a coil
  24. bear — 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