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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. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  2. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  3. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  4. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  5. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  6. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  7. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  8. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  9. Don't do anything ________________.
  10. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  11. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  12. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  13. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  14. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  15. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  16. The ________________ market has crashed.
  17. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  18. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  19. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  20. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  21. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  22. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  23. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  24. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.

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

Answer key

  1. mine — for digging
  2. spring — of water
  3. capital — a big letter
  4. straw — a straw man
  5. rash — a series
  6. spring — a coil
  7. tear — from crying
  8. capital — a city
  9. rash — hasty
  10. straw — dry grass
  11. rash — on the skin
  12. mine — an explosive
  13. track — a path
  14. spring — the season
  15. capital — money
  16. stock — shares
  17. stock — a soup base
  18. straw — to clutch at straws
  19. stock — goods
  20. tear — to rip
  21. tear — from crying
  22. track — to keep track
  23. track — a song
  24. mine — belonging to me

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