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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.

Words on the sheet
468
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: capital · bear · snap · land · spell · bat

  1. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  2. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  3. How do you ________________ your surname?
  4. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  5. When are we going to ________________?
  6. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  7. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  8. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  9. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  10. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  11. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  12. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  13. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  14. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  15. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  16. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  17. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  18. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.

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

Answer key

  1. snap — to click
  2. bear — to put up with
  3. spell — letters
  4. spell — magic
  5. land — to come down
  6. bear — the animal
  7. capital — a big letter
  8. snap — to speak sharply
  9. bear — the animal
  10. bat — for baseball
  11. land — a country
  12. land — ground
  13. bat — in an idiom
  14. snap — to snap out of it
  15. capital — money
  16. capital — a city
  17. spell — a short time
  18. bat — the animal

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