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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. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  2. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  3. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  4. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  5. The water is too ________________.
  6. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  9. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  10. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  11. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  12. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  13. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  14. The ________________ went through the wall.
  15. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  16. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  17. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  18. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  19. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  20. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  21. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  22. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  23. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  24. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — a city
  2. pass — to succeed
  3. cold — the Cold War
  4. craft — a skill
  5. cold — not warm
  6. fan — to cool the air
  7. cold — an illness
  8. file — a tool
  9. nail — on a finger
  10. nail — for a hammer
  11. file — a document
  12. pass — to spend time
  13. craft — a handicraft
  14. nail — for a hammer
  15. kid — to tease
  16. fan — a supporter
  17. kid — child
  18. pass — a permit
  19. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  20. file — a line of people
  21. capital — money
  22. fan — a supporter
  23. capital — a big letter
  24. craft — boats

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