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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.

Make a worksheet

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
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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 · row · sharp · lean · capital · game · hand · mine

  1. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  2. It's one o'clock ________________.
  3. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  4. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  5. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  6. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  7. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  8. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  9. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  10. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  11. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  12. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  13. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  14. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  15. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  16. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  17. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  18. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  19. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  20. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  21. That was a fun ________________.
  22. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  23. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  24. He was blown up by a land ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — a city
  2. sharp — exactly
  3. game — wild animals
  4. hand — in cards
  5. mine — belonging to me
  6. sharp — clever
  7. lean — to bend
  8. hand — part of the body
  9. row — a quarrel
  10. spring — a coil
  11. hand — help
  12. lean — to rest against
  13. lean — thin
  14. spring — of water
  15. capital — a big letter
  16. row — to paddle
  17. sharp — with an edge
  18. row — a line
  19. capital — money
  20. game — a kind of play
  21. game — a match
  22. mine — for digging
  23. spring — the season
  24. mine — an explosive

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

Make a worksheet (0 words)

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