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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 beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  2. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  3. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  4. This piece is in a major ________________.
  5. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  6. Don't do anything ________________.
  7. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  8. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  9. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  10. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  11. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  12. He was locked up in a ________________.
  13. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  14. The ________________ market has crashed.
  15. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  16. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  17. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  18. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  19. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  20. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  21. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  22. I'll be taking the ________________.
  23. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  24. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — a big letter
  2. stock — goods
  3. capital — money
  4. key — in music
  5. stock — a soup base
  6. rash — hasty
  7. tube — in a tire
  8. tube — a container
  9. drill — a practice
  10. key — for a lock
  11. cell — in biology
  12. cell — in a prison
  13. capital — a city
  14. stock — shares
  15. drill — the tool
  16. rash — on the skin
  17. rash — a series
  18. file — a line of people
  19. file — a document
  20. key — the most important part
  21. cell — a phone
  22. tube — the underground
  23. drill — army training
  24. file — a tool

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