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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 met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  2. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  3. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  4. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  5. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  6. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  7. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  8. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  9. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  10. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  11. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  12. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  13. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  14. Did you ________________ the meat?
  15. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  16. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  17. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  18. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  19. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  20. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  21. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  22. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  23. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  24. What was your ________________ profit last year?

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

Answer key

  1. mine — belonging to me
  2. bark — to shout
  3. capital — a big letter
  4. spring — a coil
  5. capital — money
  6. net — for catching
  7. capital — a city
  8. mine — for digging
  9. season — in sport
  10. file — a line of people
  11. bark — of a tree
  12. bark — a dog's sound
  13. mine — an explosive
  14. season — to add flavour
  15. pass — to spend time
  16. file — a document
  17. file — a tool
  18. net — in sport
  19. season — of the year
  20. pass — to succeed
  21. spring — of water
  22. spring — the season
  23. pass — a permit
  24. net — after costs

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