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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. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  2. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  3. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  4. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  5. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  6. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  7. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  8. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  9. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  10. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  11. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  12. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  13. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  14. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  15. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  16. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  17. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  18. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  19. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  20. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  21. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  22. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  23. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  24. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — a big letter
  2. spring — a coil
  3. snap — to snap out of it
  4. lean — to rest against
  5. spring — the season
  6. branch — of a bank
  7. fan — to cool the air
  8. lean — thin
  9. fan — a supporter
  10. snap — to click
  11. degree — from a university
  12. lean — to bend
  13. capital — money
  14. degree — temperature
  15. degree — an amount
  16. spring — of water
  17. fan — a supporter
  18. branch — a division
  19. race — a contest
  20. branch — of a tree
  21. race — the arms race
  22. capital — a city
  23. race — humankind
  24. snap — to speak sharply

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