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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. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  2. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  3. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  4. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  5. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  6. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  7. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  8. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  9. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  10. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  11. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  12. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  13. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  14. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  15. It's one o'clock ________________.
  16. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  17. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  18. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  19. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  20. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  21. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  22. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  23. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  24. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.

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

Answer key

  1. spring — a coil
  2. field — a subject
  3. capital — a big letter
  4. field — farmland
  5. hand — help
  6. hand — part of the body
  7. mark — to pay attention
  8. sharp — clever
  9. board — a committee
  10. spring — of water
  11. mark — a trace
  12. capital — a city
  13. spring — the season
  14. board — a flat piece
  15. sharp — exactly
  16. mark — a grade
  17. capital — money
  18. field — for sport
  19. hand — in cards
  20. lean — thin
  21. lean — to rest against
  22. lean — to bend
  23. sharp — with an edge
  24. board — to get on

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