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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. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  2. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  3. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  4. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  5. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  6. We're almost out of ________________.
  7. He was locked up in a ________________.
  8. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  9. Did you ________________ the meat?
  10. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  11. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  12. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  13. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  14. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  15. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  16. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  17. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  18. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  19. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  20. You don't need to ________________ round.
  21. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  22. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  23. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  24. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. season — of the year
  2. cell — a phone
  3. capital — a city
  4. snap — to snap out of it
  5. spring — of water
  6. pop — soda
  7. cell — in a prison
  8. spring — the season
  9. season — to add flavour
  10. snap — to speak sharply
  11. drill — the tool
  12. pit — in a race
  13. pit — a hole
  14. capital — a big letter
  15. cell — in biology
  16. snap — to click
  17. season — in sport
  18. drill — army training
  19. spring — a coil
  20. pop — to visit
  21. capital — money
  22. pop — music
  23. drill — a practice
  24. pit — a fruit stone

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