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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 116 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 · branch · capital · game · race · kid · bear · swing

  1. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  2. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  3. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  4. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  5. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  6. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  7. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  8. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  9. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  10. David sat on the ________________.
  11. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  12. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  13. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  14. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  15. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  16. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  17. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  18. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  19. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  20. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  21. That was a fun ________________.
  22. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  23. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  24. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.

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

Answer key

  1. spring — a coil
  2. kid — child
  3. race — the arms race
  4. bear — to put up with
  5. spring — the season
  6. race — a contest
  7. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  8. game — wild animals
  9. bear — the animal
  10. swing — to play on
  11. branch — of a bank
  12. capital — a big letter
  13. game — a kind of play
  14. capital — a city
  15. race — humankind
  16. branch — of a tree
  17. swing — in golf
  18. bear — the animal
  19. branch — a division
  20. spring — of water
  21. game — a match
  22. capital — money
  23. kid — to tease
  24. swing — music

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