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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. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  2. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  3. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  4. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  5. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  6. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  7. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  8. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  9. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  10. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  11. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  12. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  13. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  14. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  15. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  16. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  17. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  18. He was locked up in a ________________.
  19. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  20. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  21. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  22. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  23. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  24. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.

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

Answer key

  1. racket — a loud noise
  2. racket — for tennis
  3. spring — a coil
  4. spring — of water
  5. band — a music group
  6. capital — money
  7. mark — a grade
  8. bat — the animal
  9. mark — to pay attention
  10. bat — in an idiom
  11. band — a rubber band
  12. racket — for tennis
  13. trunk — of a car
  14. spring — the season
  15. band — a ring
  16. mark — a trace
  17. capital — a big letter
  18. cell — in a prison
  19. bat — for baseball
  20. capital — a city
  21. trunk — of an elephant
  22. cell — in biology
  23. cell — a phone
  24. trunk — of a tree

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