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

Word bank: kid · capital · staff · deal · wind · spring

  1. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  2. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  3. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  4. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  5. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  6. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  7. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  8. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  9. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  10. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  11. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  12. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  13. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  14. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  15. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  16. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  17. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  18. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.

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

Answer key

  1. deal — to handle
  2. capital — a city
  3. spring — a coil
  4. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  5. capital — money
  6. staff — a stick
  7. spring — the season
  8. kid — child
  9. wind — to turn a key
  10. capital — a big letter
  11. staff — employees
  12. staff — employees
  13. kid — to tease
  14. deal — a big deal
  15. spring — of water
  16. wind — moving air
  17. deal — an agreement
  18. wind — moving air

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