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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. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  2. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  3. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  4. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  5. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  6. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  7. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  8. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  9. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  10. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  11. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  12. This piece is in a major ________________.
  13. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  14. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  15. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  16. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  17. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  18. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  19. There's no middle ________________.
  20. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  21. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  22. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  23. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  24. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.

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

Answer key

  1. present — the time now
  2. spring — a coil
  3. present — a gift
  4. bat — the animal
  5. tear — from crying
  6. snap — to snap out of it
  7. capital — a city
  8. bat — in an idiom
  9. capital — money
  10. snap — to click
  11. capital — a big letter
  12. key — in music
  13. snap — to speak sharply
  14. key — the most important part
  15. present — there
  16. ground — crushed
  17. spring — of water
  18. spring — the season
  19. ground — a position
  20. tear — to rip
  21. ground — the earth
  22. tear — from crying
  23. key — for a lock
  24. bat — for baseball

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