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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. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  3. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  4. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  5. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  6. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  7. We're on a ________________ here.
  8. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  9. The light ________________ burned out.
  10. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  11. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  12. I've got to change the light ________________.
  13. Did you ________________ the meat?
  14. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  15. That must've been a ________________.
  16. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  17. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  18. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  19. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  20. The water is too ________________.
  21. The ________________ market has crashed.
  22. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  23. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  24. Spring is a pleasant ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — a big letter
  2. bulb — of a plant
  3. cold — an illness
  4. stock — a soup base
  5. season — in sport
  6. rush — hurry
  7. roll — on a roll
  8. roll — a cake
  9. bulb — for light
  10. stock — goods
  11. rush — to hurry
  12. bulb — for light
  13. season — to add flavour
  14. field — farmland
  15. rush — a thrill
  16. field — a subject
  17. field — for sport
  18. cold — the Cold War
  19. capital — money
  20. cold — not warm
  21. stock — shares
  22. capital — a city
  23. roll — a list
  24. season — of the year

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