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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: capital · spring · cold · bass · roll · chair · suit · field

  1. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  2. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  3. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  4. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  5. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  6. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  7. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  8. The water is too ________________.
  9. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  10. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  11. Positive actions can inspire others to follow ________________.
  12. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  13. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  14. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  15. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  16. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  17. We're on a ________________ here.
  18. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  19. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  20. When will it ________________ you to start?
  21. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  22. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  23. The cuffs of his ________________ jacket are badly frayed.
  24. I play ________________ in a jazz band.

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

Answer key

  1. spring — the season
  2. capital — money
  3. field — farmland
  4. field — for sport
  5. capital — a big letter
  6. spring — of water
  7. chair — to sit on
  8. cold — not warm
  9. cold — the Cold War
  10. roll — a list
  11. suit — in cards
  12. bass — the fish
  13. roll — a cake
  14. spring — a coil
  15. cold — an illness
  16. field — a subject
  17. roll — on a roll
  18. chair — a professorship
  19. chair — a leader
  20. suit — to fit
  21. bass — low music
  22. capital — a city
  23. suit — clothes
  24. bass — the instrument

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