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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 116 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. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  2. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  3. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  4. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  5. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  6. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  7. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  8. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  9. The tickets are free of ________________.
  10. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  11. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  12. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  13. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  14. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  15. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  16. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  17. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  18. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  19. The water is too ________________.
  20. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  21. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  22. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  23. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  24. The elephant has a huge ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. hide — to keep secret
  2. scale — in music
  3. cold — an illness
  4. capital — money
  5. capital — a city
  6. charge — in control
  7. hide — to keep secret
  8. capital — a big letter
  9. charge — a price
  10. scale — for weighing
  11. hide — animal skin
  12. branch — of a tree
  13. branch — of a bank
  14. degree — from a university
  15. trunk — of a car
  16. scale — size or range
  17. charge — electricity
  18. cold — the Cold War
  19. cold — not warm
  20. branch — a division
  21. trunk — of a tree
  22. degree — an amount
  23. degree — temperature
  24. trunk — of an elephant

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