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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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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: content · stem · racket · swing · squash · capital · spring · wind

  1. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  2. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  3. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  4. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  5. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  6. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  7. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  8. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  9. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  10. David sat on the ________________.
  11. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  12. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  13. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  14. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  15. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  16. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  17. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  18. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  19. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  20. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  21. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  22. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  23. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  24. Check the label for the sugar ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. squash — to crush
  2. wind — moving air
  3. stem — of a plant
  4. stem — to come from
  5. wind — moving air
  6. capital — money
  7. spring — a coil
  8. squash — the sport
  9. wind — to turn a key
  10. swing — to play on
  11. content — videos and posts
  12. squash — the vegetable
  13. capital — a big letter
  14. racket — a loud noise
  15. spring — of water
  16. racket — for tennis
  17. stem — a stem cell
  18. capital — a city
  19. content — happy
  20. spring — the season
  21. racket — for tennis
  22. swing — music
  23. swing — in golf
  24. content — the amount

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