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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. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  2. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  3. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  4. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  5. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  6. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  7. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  8. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  9. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  10. False peace will not ________________.
  11. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  12. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  13. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  14. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  15. He was locked up in a ________________.
  16. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  17. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  18. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  19. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  20. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  21. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  22. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  23. The water is too ________________.
  24. I'd like to play a game of ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. rock — to move gently
  2. capital — a city
  3. cold — the Cold War
  4. last — final
  5. capital — a big letter
  6. can — to be able to
  7. capital — money
  8. cold — an illness
  9. squash — the vegetable
  10. last — to go on
  11. squash — to crush
  12. rock — a stone
  13. mine — an explosive
  14. mine — belonging to me
  15. cell — in a prison
  16. can — a tin
  17. mine — for digging
  18. last — finally
  19. cell — a phone
  20. cell — in biology
  21. can — a tin
  22. rock — music
  23. cold — not warm
  24. squash — the sport

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