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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 train ________________ at six o'clock.
  2. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  3. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  4. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  5. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  6. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  7. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  8. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  9. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  10. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  11. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  12. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  13. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  14. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  15. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  16. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  17. The water is too ________________.
  18. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  19. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  20. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  21. The ________________ market has crashed.
  22. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  23. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  24. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. leaves — to go away
  2. cold — an illness
  3. cold — the Cold War
  4. rock — to move gently
  5. capital — a big letter
  6. wave — a sudden rise
  7. rock — music
  8. capital — a city
  9. stock — a soup base
  10. leaves — lets stay
  11. stock — goods
  12. wave — with your hand
  13. leaves — of a tree
  14. mine — belonging to me
  15. wave — of the sea
  16. file — a tool
  17. cold — not warm
  18. rock — a stone
  19. mine — for digging
  20. mine — an explosive
  21. stock — shares
  22. file — a document
  23. file — a line of people
  24. capital — money

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