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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: bat · wind · capital · rush · toast · spring · root · field

  1. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  2. I would like to propose a ________________ on your birthday.
  3. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  4. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  5. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  6. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  7. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  8. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  9. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  10. I like lots of butter on my ________________ in the morning.
  11. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  12. That must've been a ________________.
  13. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  14. After the show, she was the ________________ of the town.
  15. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  16. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  17. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  18. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  19. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  20. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  21. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  22. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  23. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  24. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.

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

Answer key

  1. bat — the animal
  2. toast — a drink to someone
  3. wind — moving air
  4. root — of a word
  5. field — for sport
  6. wind — to turn a key
  7. capital — a city
  8. rush — hurry
  9. bat — in an idiom
  10. toast — bread
  11. spring — the season
  12. rush — a thrill
  13. spring — of water
  14. toast — the most admired
  15. bat — for baseball
  16. capital — a big letter
  17. rush — to hurry
  18. root — the cause
  19. field — farmland
  20. root — of a plant
  21. spring — a coil
  22. wind — moving air
  23. capital — money
  24. field — a subject

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