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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. When are we going to ________________?
  3. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  4. He was locked up in a ________________.
  5. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  6. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  7. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  8. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  9. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  10. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  11. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  12. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  13. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  14. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  15. False peace will not ________________.
  16. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  17. The ________________ market has crashed.
  18. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  19. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  20. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  21. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  22. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  23. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  24. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — a big letter
  2. land — to come down
  3. capital — a city
  4. cell — in a prison
  5. scale — for weighing
  6. scale — size or range
  7. pitch — a sales talk
  8. stock — a soup base
  9. leaves — lets stay
  10. last — finally
  11. scale — in music
  12. stock — goods
  13. cell — a phone
  14. leaves — to go away
  15. last — to go on
  16. last — final
  17. stock — shares
  18. land — ground
  19. cell — in biology
  20. leaves — of a tree
  21. land — a country
  22. pitch — a sports field
  23. pitch — completely
  24. capital — money

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