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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. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  2. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  3. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  4. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  5. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  6. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  7. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  8. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  9. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  10. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  11. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  12. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  13. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  14. That was a fun ________________.
  15. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  16. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  17. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  18. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  19. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  20. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  21. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  22. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  23. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  24. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — a city
  2. spring — the season
  3. capital — a big letter
  4. spring — a coil
  5. rule — a law
  6. field — farmland
  7. track — a path
  8. field — for sport
  9. track — to keep track
  10. stem — of a plant
  11. track — a song
  12. rule — to rule out
  13. march — music
  14. game — a match
  15. rule — government
  16. field — a subject
  17. game — a kind of play
  18. capital — money
  19. spring — of water
  20. march — the month
  21. stem — a stem cell
  22. stem — to come from
  23. march — the month
  24. game — wild animals

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