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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. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  2. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  3. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  4. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  5. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  6. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  9. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  10. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  11. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  12. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  13. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  14. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  15. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  16. This piece is in a major ________________.
  17. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  18. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  19. The water is too ________________.
  20. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  21. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  22. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  23. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  24. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.

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

Answer key

  1. pass — to succeed
  2. craft — a handicraft
  3. craft — boats
  4. pit — a fruit stone
  5. key — the most important part
  6. spring — of water
  7. cold — an illness
  8. spring — the season
  9. capital — money
  10. wound — an injury
  11. pit — in a race
  12. craft — a skill
  13. key — for a lock
  14. pit — a hole
  15. cold — the Cold War
  16. key — in music
  17. pass — to spend time
  18. wound — past of 'wind'
  19. cold — not warm
  20. pass — a permit
  21. capital — a big letter
  22. capital — a city
  23. wound — an injury
  24. spring — a coil

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