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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. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  2. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  3. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  4. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  5. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  6. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  7. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  8. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  9. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  10. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  11. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  12. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  13. The water is too ________________.
  14. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  15. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  16. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  17. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  18. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  19. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  20. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  21. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  22. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  23. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  24. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.

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

Answer key

  1. pit — a hole
  2. kid — to tease
  3. net — for catching
  4. capital — money
  5. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  6. shower — rain
  7. shower — to wash
  8. shower — a meteor shower
  9. capital — a city
  10. march — music
  11. kid — child
  12. net — after costs
  13. cold — not warm
  14. mark — a grade
  15. pit — in a race
  16. capital — a big letter
  17. cold — the Cold War
  18. pit — a fruit stone
  19. mark — a trace
  20. march — the month
  21. cold — an illness
  22. mark — to pay attention
  23. net — in sport
  24. march — the month

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