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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. False peace will not ________________.
  2. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  3. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  4. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  5. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  6. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  7. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  8. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  9. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  10. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  11. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  12. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  13. Have you settled on a ________________?
  14. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  15. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  16. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  17. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  18. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  19. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  20. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  21. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  22. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  23. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  24. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!

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

Answer key

  1. last — to go on
  2. file — a document
  3. row — to paddle
  4. bat — the animal
  5. capital — a big letter
  6. date — on the calendar
  7. capital — a city
  8. row — a quarrel
  9. wound — past of 'wind'
  10. bat — in an idiom
  11. bat — for baseball
  12. band — a rubber band
  13. date — on the calendar
  14. wound — an injury
  15. date — the fruit
  16. band — a music group
  17. last — finally
  18. file — a line of people
  19. row — a line
  20. capital — money
  21. band — a ring
  22. file — a tool
  23. wound — an injury
  24. last — final

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