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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. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  2. How do you ________________ your surname?
  3. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  4. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  5. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  6. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  7. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  8. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  9. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  10. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  11. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  12. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  13. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  14. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  15. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  16. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  17. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  18. The ________________ market has crashed.
  19. False peace will not ________________.
  20. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  21. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  22. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  23. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  24. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — money
  2. spell — letters
  3. mark — to pay attention
  4. file — a tool
  5. file — a line of people
  6. last — final
  7. pass — a permit
  8. mark — a trace
  9. stock — goods
  10. spell — a short time
  11. march — music
  12. march — the month
  13. pass — to spend time
  14. pass — to succeed
  15. last — finally
  16. mark — a grade
  17. stock — a soup base
  18. stock — shares
  19. last — to go on
  20. capital — a city
  21. file — a document
  22. march — the month
  23. capital — a big letter
  24. spell — magic

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