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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: spring · bark · snap · club · capital · field · wake · stem

  1. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  2. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  3. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  4. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  5. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  6. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  7. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  8. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  9. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  10. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  11. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  12. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  13. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  14. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  15. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  16. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  17. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  18. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  19. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  20. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  21. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  22. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  23. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  24. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.

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

Answer key

  1. spring — a coil
  2. snap — to speak sharply
  3. capital — a big letter
  4. bark — a dog's sound
  5. club — a group
  6. club — for dancing
  7. snap — to click
  8. capital — a city
  9. capital — money
  10. bark — of a tree
  11. spring — the season
  12. snap — to snap out of it
  13. wake — before a funeral
  14. field — farmland
  15. wake — to stop sleeping
  16. field — for sport
  17. stem — to come from
  18. wake — a trail
  19. club — for golf
  20. field — a subject
  21. stem — of a plant
  22. spring — of water
  23. bark — to shout
  24. stem — a stem cell

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