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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. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  2. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  3. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  4. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  5. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  6. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  7. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  8. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  9. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  10. The water is too ________________.
  11. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  12. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  13. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  14. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  15. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  16. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  17. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  18. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  19. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  20. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  21. This piece is in a major ________________.
  22. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  23. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  24. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.

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

Answer key

  1. present — a gift
  2. key — the most important part
  3. pit — in a race
  4. track — to keep track
  5. chest — a box
  6. field — a subject
  7. present — the time now
  8. capital — a big letter
  9. capital — a city
  10. cold — not warm
  11. pit — a fruit stone
  12. track — a song
  13. pit — a hole
  14. key — for a lock
  15. track — a path
  16. chest — of your body
  17. field — farmland
  18. cold — the Cold War
  19. field — for sport
  20. capital — money
  21. key — in music
  22. present — there
  23. chest — of your body
  24. cold — an illness

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