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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. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  3. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  4. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  5. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  6. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  7. When was this ________________ built?
  8. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  9. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. When are we going to ________________?
  12. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  13. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  14. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  15. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  16. It's one o'clock ________________.
  17. The water is too ________________.
  18. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  19. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  20. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  21. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  22. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  23. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  24. He's quite ________________, isn't he?

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

Answer key

  1. capital — a big letter
  2. land — a country
  3. cold — the Cold War
  4. land — ground
  5. march — music
  6. march — the month
  7. temple — a place of worship
  8. stem — to come from
  9. stem — a stem cell
  10. cold — an illness
  11. land — to come down
  12. spring — the season
  13. capital — a city
  14. capital — money
  15. stem — of a plant
  16. sharp — exactly
  17. cold — not warm
  18. spring — of water
  19. spring — a coil
  20. march — the month
  21. sharp — with an edge
  22. temple — side of the head
  23. temple — a place of worship
  24. sharp — clever

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