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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 120 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. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  2. The ________________ went through the wall.
  3. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  4. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  5. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  6. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  7. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  8. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  9. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  10. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  11. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  12. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  13. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  14. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  15. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  16. That was a fun ________________.
  17. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  18. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  19. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  20. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  21. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  22. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  23. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  24. He was locked up in a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. game — a kind of play
  2. nail — for a hammer
  3. fan — to cool the air
  4. capital — a city
  5. fan — a supporter
  6. nail — on a finger
  7. patient — a sick person
  8. spring — of water
  9. spring — the season
  10. capital — money
  11. patient — calm and waiting
  12. cell — in biology
  13. prune — to trim
  14. prune — to trim
  15. nail — for a hammer
  16. game — a match
  17. capital — a big letter
  18. prune — the fruit
  19. patient — a sick person
  20. game — wild animals
  21. fan — a supporter
  22. spring — a coil
  23. cell — a phone
  24. cell — in a prison

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