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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: firm · spring · capital · land · spell · mine · stem · pit

  1. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  2. Nothing provides more peace of mind than a ________________ decision.
  3. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  4. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  5. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  6. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  7. She works as an advertiser at a New Jersey ________________.
  8. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  9. How do you ________________ your surname?
  10. When are we going to ________________?
  11. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  12. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  13. I'll stand ________________ for what I deserve.
  14. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  15. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  16. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  17. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  18. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  19. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  20. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  21. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  22. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  23. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  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. mine — belonging to me
  2. firm — decided
  3. capital — money
  4. mine — for digging
  5. spell — magic
  6. capital — a big letter
  7. firm — a company
  8. land — a country
  9. spell — letters
  10. land — to come down
  11. capital — a city
  12. spell — a short time
  13. firm — steady
  14. spring — the season
  15. mine — an explosive
  16. pit — in a race
  17. spring — of water
  18. stem — a stem cell
  19. stem — of a plant
  20. stem — to come from
  21. pit — a hole
  22. pit — a fruit stone
  23. spring — a coil
  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