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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. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  2. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  3. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  4. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  5. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  6. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  7. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  8. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  9. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  10. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  11. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  12. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  13. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  14. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  15. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  16. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  17. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  18. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  19. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  20. He is an ace ________________.
  21. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  22. The ________________ took off on time.
  23. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  24. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. spring — of water
  2. file — a tool
  3. foot — the bottom
  4. wake — before a funeral
  5. trunk — of an elephant
  6. spring — the season
  7. pitcher — a jug
  8. foot — part of the body
  9. pitcher — a jug
  10. file — a document
  11. foot — a measure
  12. capital — money
  13. plane — a tool
  14. trunk — of a car
  15. plane — in geometry
  16. spring — a coil
  17. wake — to stop sleeping
  18. capital — a big letter
  19. trunk — of a tree
  20. pitcher — in baseball
  21. capital — a city
  22. plane — an aircraft
  23. wake — a trail
  24. file — a line of people

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