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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: scale · hand · dip · straw · capital · spring · mark · rock

  1. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  2. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  3. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  4. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  5. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  6. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  7. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  8. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  9. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  10. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  11. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  12. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  13. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  14. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  15. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  16. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  17. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  18. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  19. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  20. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  21. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  22. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  23. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  24. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.

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

Answer key

  1. rock — music
  2. straw — dry grass
  3. spring — a coil
  4. scale — in music
  5. rock — to move gently
  6. straw — a straw man
  7. capital — a city
  8. hand — in cards
  9. dip — a sauce
  10. mark — a trace
  11. rock — a stone
  12. mark — a grade
  13. scale — for weighing
  14. scale — size or range
  15. capital — money
  16. capital — a big letter
  17. hand — help
  18. mark — to pay attention
  19. spring — of water
  20. dip — to dunk
  21. straw — to clutch at straws
  22. spring — the season
  23. hand — part of the body
  24. dip — to sink

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