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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 beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  2. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  3. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  4. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  5. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  6. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  7. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  8. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  9. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  10. I'll be taking the ________________.
  11. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  12. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  13. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  14. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  15. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  16. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  17. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  18. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  19. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  20. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  21. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  22. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  23. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  24. The flowers bloom in the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — a big letter
  2. mine — an explosive
  3. capital — money
  4. field — farmland
  5. mine — for digging
  6. mine — belonging to me
  7. field — a subject
  8. track — a song
  9. lie — an untruth
  10. tube — the underground
  11. tube — in a tire
  12. lie — to recline
  13. rock — a stone
  14. field — for sport
  15. lie — an untruth
  16. track — to keep track
  17. capital — a city
  18. tube — a container
  19. rock — to move gently
  20. spring — of water
  21. rock — music
  22. track — a path
  23. spring — a coil
  24. spring — the season

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