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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. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  2. Tom got himself in a ________________.
  3. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  6. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  7. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  8. Would you like some apricot ________________?
  9. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  10. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  11. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  12. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  13. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  14. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  15. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  16. The water is too ________________.
  17. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  18. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  19. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  20. The King held a masked ________________.
  21. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  22. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  23. The bus was late because of the traffic ________________.
  24. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.

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

Answer key

  1. present — a gift
  2. jam — a tight spot
  3. file — a tool
  4. cold — an illness
  5. ball — a great time
  6. capital — a city
  7. capital — money
  8. jam — to spread on bread
  9. fan — a supporter
  10. fan — to cool the air
  11. ball — a round shape
  12. fan — a supporter
  13. deal — to handle
  14. file — a line of people
  15. deal — a big deal
  16. cold — not warm
  17. cold — the Cold War
  18. file — a document
  19. present — there
  20. ball — a dance
  21. deal — an agreement
  22. present — the time now
  23. jam — in traffic
  24. capital — a big letter

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