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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 120 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. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  2. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  3. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  4. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  5. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  6. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  7. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  8. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  9. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  12. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  13. The water is too ________________.
  14. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  15. When are we going to ________________?
  16. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  17. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  18. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  19. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  20. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  21. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  22. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  23. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  24. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.

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

Answer key

  1. lash — a whip stroke
  2. lash — to lash out
  3. land — ground
  4. capital — a city
  5. leaves — lets stay
  6. spring — of water
  7. pit — a fruit stone
  8. pit — a hole
  9. pit — in a race
  10. cold — an illness
  11. capital — money
  12. pitch — completely
  13. cold — not warm
  14. land — a country
  15. land — to come down
  16. lash — an eyelash
  17. leaves — of a tree
  18. leaves — to go away
  19. spring — the season
  20. pitch — a sports field
  21. capital — a big letter
  22. pitch — a sales talk
  23. cold — the Cold War
  24. spring — a coil

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