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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's sitting on a gold ________________.
  2. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  3. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  4. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  5. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  6. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  7. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  8. This ________________ always watches out for its own interests.
  9. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  10. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  11. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  12. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  13. We're on a ________________ here.
  14. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  15. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  16. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  17. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  18. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  19. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  20. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  21. I'm going to the ________________ to withdraw money.
  22. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  23. Tiny blossoms have come out all over the river ________________.
  24. This looks like a gunshot ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. mine — for digging
  2. wound — an injury
  3. wound — past of 'wind'
  4. lean — thin
  5. roll — a cake
  6. mine — belonging to me
  7. capital — money
  8. bank — for money
  9. bat — for baseball
  10. capital — a big letter
  11. mine — an explosive
  12. march — the month
  13. roll — on a roll
  14. lean — to rest against
  15. roll — a list
  16. capital — a city
  17. march — the month
  18. march — music
  19. lean — to bend
  20. bat — in an idiom
  21. bank — for money
  22. bat — the animal
  23. bank — of a river
  24. wound — an injury

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