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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. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  2. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  3. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  4. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  5. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  6. False peace will not ________________.
  7. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  8. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  9. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  10. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  11. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  12. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  13. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  14. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  15. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  16. The water is too ________________.
  17. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  18. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  19. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  20. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  21. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  22. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  23. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  24. The ________________ went through the wall.

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

Answer key

  1. nail — on a finger
  2. cold — an illness
  3. capital — a city
  4. tear — to rip
  5. last — finally
  6. last — to go on
  7. capital — a big letter
  8. tear — from crying
  9. content — the amount
  10. nail — for a hammer
  11. hide — animal skin
  12. last — final
  13. content — videos and posts
  14. rock — a stone
  15. content — happy
  16. cold — not warm
  17. tear — from crying
  18. cold — the Cold War
  19. capital — money
  20. hide — to keep secret
  21. hide — to keep secret
  22. rock — to move gently
  23. rock — music
  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