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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 116 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. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  2. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  3. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  4. I can't ________________ this cold.
  5. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  6. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  7. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  8. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  9. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  10. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  11. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  12. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  13. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  14. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  15. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  16. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  17. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  18. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  19. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  20. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  21. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  22. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  23. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  24. When are we going to ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. capital — money
  2. spring — of water
  3. dip — a sauce
  4. stand — to bear
  5. capital — a city
  6. shower — a meteor shower
  7. spring — a coil
  8. dip — to dunk
  9. field — a subject
  10. shower — to wash
  11. land — a country
  12. club — for golf
  13. stand — for spectators
  14. club — for dancing
  15. stand — on your feet
  16. capital — a big letter
  17. spring — the season
  18. shower — rain
  19. field — for sport
  20. land — ground
  21. club — a group
  22. dip — to sink
  23. field — farmland
  24. land — to come down

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