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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: mine · staff · pitch · roll · capital · hand · squash · spring

  1. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  2. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  3. We're on a ________________ here.
  4. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  5. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  6. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  7. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  8. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  9. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  10. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  11. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  12. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  13. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  14. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  15. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  16. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  17. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  18. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  19. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  20. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  21. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  22. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  23. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  24. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.

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

Answer key

  1. squash — to crush
  2. staff — employees
  3. roll — on a roll
  4. pitch — a sales talk
  5. spring — of water
  6. hand — help
  7. hand — in cards
  8. hand — part of the body
  9. capital — money
  10. mine — for digging
  11. roll — a list
  12. squash — the sport
  13. staff — a stick
  14. capital — a city
  15. pitch — completely
  16. spring — the season
  17. mine — belonging to me
  18. staff — employees
  19. mine — an explosive
  20. capital — a big letter
  21. roll — a cake
  22. squash — the vegetable
  23. pitch — a sports field
  24. spring — a coil

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