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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. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  3. A ________________ helps one to draw a straight line.
  4. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  5. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  6. The people resisted their cruel ________________.
  7. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  8. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  9. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  10. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  11. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  12. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  13. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  14. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  15. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  16. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  17. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  18. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  19. Borders were drawn on the map using a ________________, with no regard for cultural realities on the ground.
  20. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  21. The water is too ________________.
  22. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  23. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  24. She got the top ________________ in the exam.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — a city
  2. spring — a coil
  3. ruler — for measuring
  4. track — a song
  5. capital — money
  6. ruler — a monarch
  7. wave — of the sea
  8. cold — the Cold War
  9. track — to keep track
  10. mark — to pay attention
  11. capital — a big letter
  12. track — a path
  13. wind — to turn a key
  14. mark — a trace
  15. cold — an illness
  16. wind — moving air
  17. wave — a sudden rise
  18. wave — with your hand
  19. ruler — for measuring
  20. wind — moving air
  21. cold — not warm
  22. spring — the season
  23. spring — of water
  24. mark — a grade

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