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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. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  2. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  3. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  4. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  5. The water is too ________________.
  6. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  7. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  8. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  9. When are we going to ________________?
  10. The ________________ market has crashed.
  11. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  12. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  13. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  14. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  15. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  16. Have you met the new head ________________?
  17. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  18. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  19. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  20. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  21. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  22. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  23. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  24. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. stock — a soup base
  2. capital — a city
  3. cold — the Cold War
  4. pound — a weight
  5. cold — not warm
  6. coach — pulled by horses
  7. capital — money
  8. coach — a trainer
  9. land — to come down
  10. stock — shares
  11. cold — an illness
  12. pound — to hit hard
  13. land — ground
  14. lie — to recline
  15. land — a country
  16. coach — a trainer
  17. cap — a hat
  18. cap — a lid
  19. pound — for dogs
  20. stock — goods
  21. lie — an untruth
  22. cap — of ice
  23. capital — a big letter
  24. lie — an untruth

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