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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. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  2. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  3. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  4. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  5. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  6. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  7. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  8. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  9. False peace will not ________________.
  10. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  11. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  12. He is an ace ________________.
  13. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  14. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  15. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  16. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  17. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  18. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  19. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  20. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  21. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  22. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  23. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  24. The ________________ went through the wall.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — money
  2. fork — a garden tool
  3. field — a subject
  4. last — finally
  5. pitcher — a jug
  6. fork — in a road
  7. capital — a big letter
  8. field — farmland
  9. last — to go on
  10. shower — a meteor shower
  11. nail — on a finger
  12. pitcher — in baseball
  13. field — for sport
  14. last — final
  15. shower — rain
  16. pitcher — a jug
  17. capital — a city
  18. fork — to eat with
  19. nail — for a hammer
  20. shower — to wash
  21. scale — for weighing
  22. scale — in music
  23. scale — size or range
  24. nail — for a hammer

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