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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: arm · pop · nail · field · wake · chest · capital · spring

  1. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  2. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  3. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  4. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  5. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  6. We're almost out of ________________.
  7. The ________________ went through the wall.
  8. My father caught me by the ________________.
  9. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  10. You don't need to ________________ round.
  11. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  12. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  13. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  14. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  15. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  16. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  17. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  18. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  19. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  20. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  21. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  22. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  23. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  24. Beijing is the ________________ of China.

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

Answer key

  1. nail — on a finger
  2. pop — music
  3. capital — money
  4. wake — before a funeral
  5. field — a subject
  6. pop — soda
  7. nail — for a hammer
  8. arm — part of the body
  9. arm — part of the body
  10. pop — to visit
  11. chest — of your body
  12. chest — of your body
  13. capital — a big letter
  14. wake — to stop sleeping
  15. arm — a part of something
  16. spring — a coil
  17. field — farmland
  18. spring — of water
  19. field — for sport
  20. spring — the season
  21. nail — for a hammer
  22. chest — a box
  23. wake — a trail
  24. capital — a city

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