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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. The water is too ________________.
  2. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  3. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  4. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  5. He works in a ________________ mill.
  6. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  7. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  8. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  9. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  10. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  11. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  12. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  13. She's very handy with a ________________.
  14. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  15. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  16. This piece is in a major ________________.
  17. He was locked up in a ________________.
  18. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  19. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  20. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  21. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  22. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  23. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  24. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. cold — an illness
  3. capital — a city
  4. shower — a meteor shower
  5. saw — the tool
  6. cold — the Cold War
  7. key — for a lock
  8. shower — to wash
  9. cell — in biology
  10. cell — a phone
  11. wound — an injury
  12. wound — past of 'wind'
  13. saw — the tool
  14. capital — money
  15. key — the most important part
  16. key — in music
  17. cell — in a prison
  18. shower — rain
  19. capital — a big letter
  20. pit — a fruit stone
  21. wound — an injury
  22. pit — a hole
  23. pit — in a race
  24. saw — past of 'see'

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