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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 120 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. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  2. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  3. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  4. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  5. False peace will not ________________.
  6. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  7. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  8. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  9. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  10. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  11. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  12. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  13. The ________________ market has crashed.
  14. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  15. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  16. Don't do anything ________________.
  17. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  18. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  19. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  20. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  21. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  22. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  23. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  24. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — a city
  2. rule — a law
  3. last — final
  4. bat — in an idiom
  5. last — to go on
  6. tear — from crying
  7. rule — government
  8. capital — a big letter
  9. tear — to rip
  10. rash — on the skin
  11. last — finally
  12. tear — from crying
  13. stock — shares
  14. bat — the animal
  15. stock — a soup base
  16. rash — hasty
  17. prune — the fruit
  18. stock — goods
  19. capital — money
  20. prune — to trim
  21. prune — to trim
  22. rule — to rule out
  23. bat — for baseball
  24. rash — a series

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