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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 120 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. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  3. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  4. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  5. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  6. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  7. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  8. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  9. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  10. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  11. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  12. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  13. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  14. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  15. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  16. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  17. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  18. How do you ________________ your surname?
  19. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  20. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  21. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  22. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  23. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  24. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — a city
  2. file — a document
  3. capital — a big letter
  4. present — a gift
  5. present — there
  6. row — a line
  7. spell — a short time
  8. row — to paddle
  9. leaves — to go away
  10. leaves — lets stay
  11. row — a quarrel
  12. shower — to wash
  13. net — after costs
  14. file — a tool
  15. shower — rain
  16. file — a line of people
  17. leaves — of a tree
  18. spell — letters
  19. spell — magic
  20. net — for catching
  21. present — the time now
  22. net — in sport
  23. capital — money
  24. shower — a meteor shower

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