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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: spring · rush · pit · land · object · capital · clip · staff

  1. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  2. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  3. That must've been a ________________.
  4. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  5. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  6. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  7. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  8. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  9. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  10. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  11. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  12. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  13. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  14. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  15. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  16. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  17. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  18. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  19. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  20. When are we going to ________________?
  21. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  22. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  23. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  24. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. spring — of water
  2. rush — hurry
  3. rush — a thrill
  4. rush — to hurry
  5. object — an aim
  6. staff — employees
  7. pit — a hole
  8. clip — a video
  9. staff — a stick
  10. clip — to cut
  11. pit — in a race
  12. spring — the season
  13. capital — a city
  14. capital — a big letter
  15. pit — a fruit stone
  16. land — a country
  17. object — to protest
  18. clip — for paper
  19. capital — money
  20. land — to come down
  21. staff — employees
  22. spring — a coil
  23. object — a thing
  24. land — ground

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