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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. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  2. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  3. The light ________________ burned out.
  4. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  5. He is an ace ________________.
  6. It's one o'clock ________________.
  7. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  8. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  9. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  10. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  11. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  12. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  13. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  14. I've got to change the light ________________.
  15. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  16. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  17. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  18. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  19. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  20. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  21. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  22. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  23. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  24. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — a city
  2. present — there
  3. bulb — for light
  4. prune — to trim
  5. pitcher — in baseball
  6. sharp — exactly
  7. bat — in an idiom
  8. prune — the fruit
  9. pitcher — a jug
  10. prune — to trim
  11. capital — money
  12. present — a gift
  13. bat — the animal
  14. bulb — for light
  15. race — humankind
  16. bulb — of a plant
  17. pitcher — a jug
  18. race — the arms race
  19. sharp — clever
  20. race — a contest
  21. sharp — with an edge
  22. present — the time now
  23. capital — a big letter
  24. bat — for baseball

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