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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. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  2. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  3. Tom got himself in a ________________.
  4. The water is too ________________.
  5. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  6. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  7. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  8. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  9. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  10. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  11. Would you like some apricot ________________?
  12. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  13. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  14. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  15. That was a fun ________________.
  16. The bus was late because of the traffic ________________.
  17. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  18. There's no middle ________________.
  19. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  20. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  21. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  22. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  23. We're on a ________________ here.
  24. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — the Cold War
  2. capital — money
  3. jam — a tight spot
  4. cold — not warm
  5. stem — to come from
  6. roll — a list
  7. club — for golf
  8. ground — crushed
  9. game — a kind of play
  10. game — wild animals
  11. jam — to spread on bread
  12. club — for dancing
  13. capital — a city
  14. roll — a cake
  15. game — a match
  16. jam — in traffic
  17. ground — the earth
  18. ground — a position
  19. club — a group
  20. cold — an illness
  21. stem — of a plant
  22. stem — a stem cell
  23. roll — on a roll
  24. capital — a big letter

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