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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. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  2. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  3. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  4. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  5. He was locked up in a ________________.
  6. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  7. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  8. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  9. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  10. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  11. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  12. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  13. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  14. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  15. That was ________________ to happen.
  16. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  17. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  18. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  19. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  20. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  21. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  22. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  23. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  24. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — a city
  2. bound — obliged
  3. wake — to stop sleeping
  4. fall — the season
  5. cell — in a prison
  6. fall — to drop
  7. chest — of your body
  8. wake — before a funeral
  9. capital — money
  10. root — of a plant
  11. cell — a phone
  12. capital — a big letter
  13. fork — a garden tool
  14. cell — in biology
  15. bound — certain
  16. wake — a trail
  17. fall — to drop
  18. fork — in a road
  19. fork — to eat with
  20. chest — a box
  21. bound — tied together
  22. root — the cause
  23. root — of a word
  24. chest — of your body

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