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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 ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  2. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  3. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  4. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  5. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  6. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  7. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  8. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  9. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  10. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  11. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  12. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  13. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  14. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  15. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  16. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  17. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  18. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  19. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  20. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  21. The water is too ________________.
  22. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  23. The tickets are free of ________________.
  24. Beijing is the ________________ of China.

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

Answer key

  1. bat — for baseball
  2. capital — money
  3. march — the month
  4. charge — electricity
  5. march — music
  6. branch — of a tree
  7. current — happening now
  8. chest — of your body
  9. capital — a big letter
  10. bat — in an idiom
  11. march — the month
  12. chest — a box
  13. chest — of your body
  14. branch — of a bank
  15. current — of water
  16. charge — in control
  17. current — electric
  18. cold — an illness
  19. bat — the animal
  20. cold — the Cold War
  21. cold — not warm
  22. branch — a division
  23. charge — a price
  24. capital — a city

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