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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'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  2. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  3. The water is too ________________.
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. When are we going to ________________?
  6. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  7. He was locked up in a ________________.
  8. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  9. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  10. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  11. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  12. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  13. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  14. I'm going to the ________________ to withdraw money.
  15. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  16. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  17. It's one o'clock ________________.
  18. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  19. Tiny blossoms have come out all over the river ________________.
  20. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  21. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  22. This ________________ always watches out for its own interests.
  23. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  24. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.

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

Answer key

  1. land — ground
  2. sharp — clever
  3. cold — not warm
  4. cold — an illness
  5. land — to come down
  6. capital — a city
  7. cell — in a prison
  8. mine — an explosive
  9. cold — the Cold War
  10. mine — for digging
  11. capital — a big letter
  12. present — the time now
  13. cell — a phone
  14. bank — for money
  15. present — there
  16. mine — belonging to me
  17. sharp — exactly
  18. capital — money
  19. bank — of a river
  20. present — a gift
  21. sharp — with an edge
  22. bank — for money
  23. land — a country
  24. cell — in biology

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