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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. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  2. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  3. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  4. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  5. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  6. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  7. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  8. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  9. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  10. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  11. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  12. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  13. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  14. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  15. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  16. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  17. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  18. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  19. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  20. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  21. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  22. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  23. When are we going to ________________?
  24. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — a city
  2. squash — to crush
  3. scale — size or range
  4. bark — of a tree
  5. wind — to turn a key
  6. land — a country
  7. squash — the vegetable
  8. bark — to shout
  9. scale — in music
  10. wind — moving air
  11. wind — moving air
  12. chip — for betting
  13. march — music
  14. capital — a big letter
  15. march — the month
  16. scale — for weighing
  17. chip — to eat
  18. chip — in a computer
  19. squash — the sport
  20. land — ground
  21. capital — money
  22. bark — a dog's sound
  23. land — to come down
  24. march — the month

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