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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. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  3. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  4. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  5. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  6. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  7. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  8. David sat on the ________________.
  9. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  10. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  11. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  12. When are we going to ________________?
  13. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  14. There's no middle ________________.
  15. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  16. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  17. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  18. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  19. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  20. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  21. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  22. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  23. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  24. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — a big letter
  2. stem — a stem cell
  3. spring — of water
  4. march — music
  5. march — the month
  6. stem — to come from
  7. stem — of a plant
  8. swing — to play on
  9. swing — music
  10. capital — a city
  11. ground — the earth
  12. land — to come down
  13. land — a country
  14. ground — a position
  15. swing — in golf
  16. ground — crushed
  17. spring — the season
  18. spring — a coil
  19. land — ground
  20. chest — a box
  21. march — the month
  22. capital — money
  23. chest — of your body
  24. chest — of your body

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