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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. Tom got himself in a ________________.
  2. Have you met the new head ________________?
  3. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  4. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  5. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  6. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  7. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  8. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  9. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  10. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  11. It's one o'clock ________________.
  12. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  13. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  14. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  15. The bus was late because of the traffic ________________.
  16. I'll be taking the ________________.
  17. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  18. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  19. The water is too ________________.
  20. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  21. Would you like some apricot ________________?
  22. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  23. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  24. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?

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

Answer key

  1. jam — a tight spot
  2. coach — a trainer
  3. cold — an illness
  4. foot — part of the body
  5. capital — a big letter
  6. cold — the Cold War
  7. sharp — clever
  8. tube — in a tire
  9. perch — the fish
  10. perch — for a bird
  11. sharp — exactly
  12. foot — a measure
  13. tube — a container
  14. foot — the bottom
  15. jam — in traffic
  16. tube — the underground
  17. perch — for a bird
  18. sharp — with an edge
  19. cold — not warm
  20. capital — a city
  21. jam — to spread on bread
  22. coach — a trainer
  23. capital — money
  24. coach — pulled by horses

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

Make a worksheet (0 words)

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