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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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Word bank
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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word from the word bank in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

Word bank: cell · march · spring · fork · lie · capital

  1. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  2. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  3. He was locked up in a ________________.
  4. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  5. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  6. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  7. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  8. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  9. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  10. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  11. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  12. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  13. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  14. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  15. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  16. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  17. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  18. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.

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

Answer key

  1. spring — of water
  2. capital — money
  3. cell — in a prison
  4. spring — a coil
  5. spring — the season
  6. fork — in a road
  7. march — the month
  8. cell — in biology
  9. lie — an untruth
  10. fork — a garden tool
  11. fork — to eat with
  12. capital — a big letter
  13. lie — to recline
  14. capital — a city
  15. march — the month
  16. cell — a phone
  17. lie — an untruth
  18. march — music

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