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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. False peace will not ________________.
  2. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  3. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  4. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  5. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  6. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  7. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  8. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  9. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  10. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  11. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  12. We're on a ________________ here.
  13. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  14. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  15. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  16. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  17. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  18. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  19. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  20. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  21. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  22. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  23. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  24. The flowers bloom in the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. last — to go on
  2. last — final
  3. capital — a big letter
  4. fan — a supporter
  5. foot — a measure
  6. spring — a coil
  7. capital — a city
  8. chest — of your body
  9. spring — of water
  10. fan — a supporter
  11. fan — to cool the air
  12. roll — on a roll
  13. branch — a division
  14. capital — money
  15. branch — of a tree
  16. foot — part of the body
  17. roll — a list
  18. branch — of a bank
  19. roll — a cake
  20. last — finally
  21. chest — a box
  22. foot — the bottom
  23. chest — of your body
  24. spring — the season

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