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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. This ________________ always watches out for its own interests.
  2. I'm going to the ________________ to withdraw money.
  3. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  4. My father caught me by the ________________.
  5. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  6. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  7. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  8. Tiny blossoms have come out all over the river ________________.
  9. The water is too ________________.
  10. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  11. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  12. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  13. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  14. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  15. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  16. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  17. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  18. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  19. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  20. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  21. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  22. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  23. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  24. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.

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

Answer key

  1. bank — for money
  2. bank — for money
  3. mine — for digging
  4. arm — part of the body
  5. fall — the season
  6. mine — an explosive
  7. scale — size or range
  8. bank — of a river
  9. cold — not warm
  10. capital — a big letter
  11. cold — the Cold War
  12. fork — to eat with
  13. fork — in a road
  14. fall — to drop
  15. mine — belonging to me
  16. fork — a garden tool
  17. scale — in music
  18. scale — for weighing
  19. fall — to drop
  20. arm — a part of something
  21. arm — part of the body
  22. capital — money
  23. capital — a city
  24. cold — an illness

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