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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. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  2. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  3. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  4. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  5. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  6. The water is too ________________.
  7. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  8. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  9. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  10. My father caught me by the ________________.
  11. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  12. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  13. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  14. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  15. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  16. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  17. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  18. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  19. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  20. We're on a ________________ here.
  21. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  22. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  23. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  24. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — a city
  2. staff — employees
  3. capital — money
  4. arm — a part of something
  5. trunk — of a tree
  6. cold — not warm
  7. branch — a division
  8. march — the month
  9. capital — a big letter
  10. arm — part of the body
  11. trunk — of a car
  12. branch — of a tree
  13. cold — the Cold War
  14. cold — an illness
  15. staff — a stick
  16. arm — part of the body
  17. roll — a cake
  18. march — the month
  19. trunk — of an elephant
  20. roll — on a roll
  21. roll — a list
  22. staff — employees
  23. branch — of a bank
  24. march — music

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