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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. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  2. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  3. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  4. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  5. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  6. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  7. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  8. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  9. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  10. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  11. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  12. There's no middle ________________.
  13. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  14. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  15. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  16. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  17. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  18. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  19. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  20. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  21. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  22. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  23. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  24. I've got the luggage in my ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. lie — an untruth
  2. ground — crushed
  3. fork — to eat with
  4. tear — to rip
  5. capital — money
  6. capital — a city
  7. fork — a garden tool
  8. bark — to shout
  9. fork — in a road
  10. tear — from crying
  11. tear — from crying
  12. ground — a position
  13. trunk — of an elephant
  14. bark — of a tree
  15. bat — the animal
  16. lie — an untruth
  17. bark — a dog's sound
  18. trunk — of a tree
  19. ground — the earth
  20. bat — in an idiom
  21. lie — to recline
  22. bat — for baseball
  23. capital — a big letter
  24. trunk — of a car

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