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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. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  2. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  3. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  4. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  5. False peace will not ________________.
  6. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  7. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  8. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  9. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  10. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  11. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  12. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  13. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  14. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  15. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  16. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  17. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  18. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  19. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  20. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  21. David sat on the ________________.
  22. When are we going to ________________?
  23. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  24. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.

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

Answer key

  1. last — finally
  2. capital — money
  3. last — final
  4. spring — a coil
  5. last — to go on
  6. wound — an injury
  7. wound — past of 'wind'
  8. capital — a city
  9. kid — child
  10. kid — to tease
  11. spring — of water
  12. present — there
  13. swing — music
  14. present — a gift
  15. wound — an injury
  16. spring — the season
  17. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  18. land — a country
  19. land — ground
  20. capital — a big letter
  21. swing — to play on
  22. land — to come down
  23. swing — in golf
  24. present — the time now

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