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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: fall · spring · game · capital · toast · cell · row · trunk

  1. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  2. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  3. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  4. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  5. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  6. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  7. I would like to propose a ________________ on your birthday.
  8. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  9. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  10. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  11. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  12. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  13. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  14. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  15. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  16. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  17. That was a fun ________________.
  18. He was locked up in a ________________.
  19. I like lots of butter on my ________________ in the morning.
  20. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  21. After the show, she was the ________________ of the town.
  22. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  23. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  24. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.

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

Answer key

  1. game — a kind of play
  2. spring — the season
  3. row — a quarrel
  4. trunk — of a car
  5. fall — the season
  6. fall — to drop
  7. toast — a drink to someone
  8. capital — a city
  9. spring — of water
  10. trunk — of a tree
  11. row — a line
  12. game — wild animals
  13. trunk — of an elephant
  14. cell — a phone
  15. row — to paddle
  16. fall — to drop
  17. game — a match
  18. cell — in a prison
  19. toast — bread
  20. capital — money
  21. toast — the most admired
  22. cell — in biology
  23. spring — a coil
  24. capital — a big letter

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