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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: mine · spring · mate · face · spell · degree · capital · prune

  1. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  2. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  3. How do you ________________ your surname?
  4. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  5. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  6. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  7. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  8. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  9. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  10. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  11. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  12. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  13. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  14. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  15. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  16. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  17. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  18. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  19. Have you found your soul ________________?
  20. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  21. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  22. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  23. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  24. Beijing is the ________________ of China.

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

Answer key

  1. spell — a short time
  2. spell — magic
  3. spell — letters
  4. mine — for digging
  5. mate — a friend
  6. prune — to trim
  7. spring — the season
  8. face — to point toward
  9. face — part of the head
  10. degree — from a university
  11. prune — to trim
  12. capital — money
  13. face — to confront
  14. mine — an explosive
  15. spring — a coil
  16. capital — a big letter
  17. prune — the fruit
  18. mine — belonging to me
  19. mate — a partner
  20. degree — an amount
  21. spring — of water
  22. degree — temperature
  23. mate — to breed
  24. capital — a city

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