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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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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. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  2. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  3. The water is too ________________.
  4. Did you ________________ the meat?
  5. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  6. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  7. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  8. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  9. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  10. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  11. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  12. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  13. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  14. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  15. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  16. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  17. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  18. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.

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

Answer key

  1. season — of the year
  2. mark — to pay attention
  3. cold — not warm
  4. season — to add flavour
  5. fork — a garden tool
  6. cold — the Cold War
  7. chest — a box
  8. capital — a city
  9. fork — in a road
  10. capital — a big letter
  11. chest — of your body
  12. capital — money
  13. mark — a grade
  14. mark — a trace
  15. fork — to eat with
  16. chest — of your body
  17. season — in sport
  18. cold — an illness

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