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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: rash · clip · mouse · bear · rush · capital · last · spring

  1. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  2. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  3. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  4. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  5. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  6. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  7. That must've been a ________________.
  8. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  9. Don't do anything ________________.
  10. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  11. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  12. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  13. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  14. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  15. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  16. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  17. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  18. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  19. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  20. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  21. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  22. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  23. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  24. False peace will not ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. last — final
  2. rush — hurry
  3. mouse — the animal
  4. capital — money
  5. clip — for paper
  6. clip — to cut
  7. rush — a thrill
  8. spring — a coil
  9. rash — hasty
  10. bear — the animal
  11. mouse — for a computer
  12. clip — a video
  13. bear — to put up with
  14. rash — a series
  15. rush — to hurry
  16. capital — a city
  17. last — finally
  18. bear — the animal
  19. spring — the season
  20. spring — of water
  21. capital — a big letter
  22. rash — on the skin
  23. mouse — the animal
  24. last — to go on

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