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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. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  2. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  3. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  4. The water is too ________________.
  5. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  6. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  7. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  8. That was ________________ to happen.
  9. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  10. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  11. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  12. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  13. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  14. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  15. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  16. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  17. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  18. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  19. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  20. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  21. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  22. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  23. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  24. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — a big letter
  2. dip — a sauce
  3. mouse — the animal
  4. cold — not warm
  5. bound — tied together
  6. stem — to come from
  7. dip — to sink
  8. bound — certain
  9. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  10. mouse — the animal
  11. march — the month
  12. march — the month
  13. bound — obliged
  14. dip — to dunk
  15. capital — money
  16. kid — to tease
  17. march — music
  18. kid — child
  19. stem — a stem cell
  20. cold — the Cold War
  21. capital — a city
  22. mouse — for a computer
  23. cold — an illness
  24. stem — of a plant

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