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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. The water is too ________________.
  2. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  3. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  4. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  5. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  6. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  7. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  8. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  9. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  10. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  11. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  12. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  13. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  14. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  15. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  16. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  17. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  18. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  19. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  20. He was locked up in a ________________.
  21. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  22. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  23. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  24. Beijing is the ________________ of China.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. rule — to rule out
  3. vault — an arched ceiling
  4. capital — a big letter
  5. cold — the Cold War
  6. current — happening now
  7. perch — for a bird
  8. capital — money
  9. current — electric
  10. vault — in gymnastics
  11. cell — in biology
  12. perch — the fish
  13. file — a line of people
  14. vault — a safe
  15. file — a tool
  16. rule — government
  17. file — a document
  18. perch — for a bird
  19. cell — a phone
  20. cell — in a prison
  21. current — of water
  22. cold — an illness
  23. rule — a law
  24. capital — a city

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