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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. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  2. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  3. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  4. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  5. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  6. The ________________ market has crashed.
  7. There's no middle ________________.
  8. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  9. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  10. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  11. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  12. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  13. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  14. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  15. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  16. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  17. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  18. When are we going to ________________?
  19. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  20. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  21. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  22. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  23. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  24. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.

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

Answer key

  1. land — ground
  2. capital — a big letter
  3. land — a country
  4. cap — of ice
  5. ground — crushed
  6. stock — shares
  7. ground — a position
  8. drill — a practice
  9. cap — a lid
  10. cap — a hat
  11. drill — army training
  12. stock — goods
  13. stock — a soup base
  14. stick — a piece of wood
  15. stick — to attach or keep to
  16. bat — in an idiom
  17. ground — the earth
  18. land — to come down
  19. bat — for baseball
  20. capital — a city
  21. bat — the animal
  22. capital — money
  23. stick — a piece of wood
  24. drill — the 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