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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 116 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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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  2. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  3. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  4. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  5. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  6. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  7. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  8. How do you ________________ your surname?
  9. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  10. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  11. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  12. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  13. The water is too ________________.
  14. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  15. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  16. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  17. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  18. The ________________ market has crashed.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — the Cold War
  2. capital — a city
  3. stick — a piece of wood
  4. capital — a big letter
  5. cold — an illness
  6. trunk — of a tree
  7. trunk — of a car
  8. spell — letters
  9. spell — a short time
  10. stick — to attach or keep to
  11. stock — goods
  12. spell — magic
  13. cold — not warm
  14. stock — a soup base
  15. stick — a piece of wood
  16. capital — money
  17. trunk — of an elephant
  18. stock — shares

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