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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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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: bear · pitch · pop · spring · rush · cold · wound · capital

  1. You don't need to ________________ round.
  2. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  3. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  4. The water is too ________________.
  5. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  6. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  7. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  8. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  9. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  10. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  11. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  12. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  13. That must've been a ________________.
  14. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  15. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  16. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  17. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  18. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  19. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  20. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  21. We're almost out of ________________.
  22. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  23. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  24. We ________________ up on opposing sides.

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

Answer key

  1. pop — to visit
  2. spring — a coil
  3. cold — an illness
  4. cold — not warm
  5. spring — of water
  6. wound — an injury
  7. bear — the animal
  8. bear — to put up with
  9. spring — the season
  10. wound — an injury
  11. cold — the Cold War
  12. capital — money
  13. rush — a thrill
  14. pitch — a sales talk
  15. capital — a big letter
  16. pop — music
  17. rush — to hurry
  18. pitch — a sports field
  19. capital — a city
  20. pitch — completely
  21. pop — soda
  22. rush — hurry
  23. bear — the animal
  24. wound — past of 'wind'

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