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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. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  3. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  4. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  5. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  6. I'll be taking the ________________.
  7. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  8. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  9. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  10. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  11. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  12. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  13. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  14. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  15. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  16. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  17. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  18. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  19. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  20. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  21. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  22. Have you met the new head ________________?
  23. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  24. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.

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

Answer key

  1. spring — of water
  2. tube — in a tire
  3. coach — a trainer
  4. stem — to come from
  5. scale — in music
  6. tube — the underground
  7. fine — a penalty
  8. tear — from crying
  9. capital — a big letter
  10. capital — a city
  11. tube — a container
  12. fine — all right
  13. fine — high quality
  14. scale — size or range
  15. scale — for weighing
  16. spring — the season
  17. tear — from crying
  18. capital — money
  19. spring — a coil
  20. stem — of a plant
  21. coach — pulled by horses
  22. coach — a trainer
  23. tear — to rip
  24. stem — a stem cell

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