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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. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  2. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  3. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  4. Don't do anything ________________.
  5. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  6. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  7. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  8. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  9. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  10. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  11. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  12. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  13. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  14. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  15. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  16. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  17. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  18. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  19. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  20. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  21. The water is too ________________.
  22. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  23. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  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. rash — a series
  2. trunk — of a car
  3. capital — a big letter
  4. rash — hasty
  5. bear — the animal
  6. trunk — of an elephant
  7. branch — of a bank
  8. cap — a lid
  9. bear — the animal
  10. row — a quarrel
  11. row — to paddle
  12. branch — a division
  13. branch — of a tree
  14. trunk — of a tree
  15. cold — the Cold War
  16. cap — of ice
  17. cold — an illness
  18. bear — to put up with
  19. cap — a hat
  20. capital — a city
  21. cold — not warm
  22. row — a line
  23. rash — on the skin
  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