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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.

Words on the sheet
468
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: capital · spring · tear · root · straw · hand · bat · scale

  1. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  2. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  3. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  4. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  5. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  6. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  7. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  8. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  9. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  10. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  11. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  12. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  13. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  14. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  15. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  16. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  17. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  18. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  19. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  20. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  21. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  22. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  23. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  24. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.

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

Answer key

  1. hand — in cards
  2. spring — a coil
  3. scale — size or range
  4. root — the cause
  5. tear — from crying
  6. straw — dry grass
  7. straw — to clutch at straws
  8. hand — help
  9. root — of a plant
  10. straw — a straw man
  11. hand — part of the body
  12. bat — the animal
  13. capital — money
  14. capital — a big letter
  15. tear — to rip
  16. scale — in music
  17. capital — a city
  18. bat — for baseball
  19. spring — of water
  20. scale — for weighing
  21. bat — in an idiom
  22. root — of a word
  23. spring — the season
  24. tear — from crying

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