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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. My father caught me by the ________________.
  2. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  3. The water is too ________________.
  4. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  5. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  8. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  9. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  10. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  11. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  12. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  13. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  16. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  17. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  18. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  19. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  20. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  21. The ________________ market has crashed.
  22. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  23. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  24. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. arm — part of the body
  2. wake — before a funeral
  3. cold — not warm
  4. can — a tin
  5. spring — of water
  6. cold — an illness
  7. wake — a trail
  8. capital — a big letter
  9. bore — to drill
  10. bore — to tire
  11. stock — goods
  12. wake — to stop sleeping
  13. capital — a city
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. stock — a soup base
  16. spring — a coil
  17. can — to be able to
  18. spring — the season
  19. bore — gave birth
  20. arm — a part of something
  21. stock — shares
  22. can — a tin
  23. arm — part of the body
  24. capital — money

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