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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. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  2. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  3. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  4. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  5. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  6. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  7. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  8. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  9. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  10. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  11. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  12. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  13. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  14. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  15. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  16. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  17. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  18. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  19. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  20. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  21. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  22. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  23. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  24. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. straw — a straw man
  2. capital — a big letter
  3. fine — high quality
  4. spring — the season
  5. straw — to clutch at straws
  6. march — the month
  7. field — farmland
  8. field — for sport
  9. spring — a coil
  10. can — a tin
  11. capital — a city
  12. fine — a penalty
  13. straw — dry grass
  14. lash — to lash out
  15. capital — money
  16. spring — of water
  17. lash — an eyelash
  18. march — music
  19. field — a subject
  20. can — a tin
  21. fine — all right
  22. lash — a whip stroke
  23. can — to be able to
  24. march — the month

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