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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. After the show, she was the ________________ of the town.
  2. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  3. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  4. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  5. I would like to propose a ________________ on your birthday.
  6. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  7. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  8. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  9. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  10. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  11. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  12. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  13. I like lots of butter on my ________________ in the morning.
  14. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  15. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  16. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  17. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  18. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  19. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  20. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  21. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  22. We're almost out of ________________.
  23. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  24. You don't need to ________________ round.

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

Answer key

  1. toast — the most admired
  2. content — the amount
  3. drill — a practice
  4. capital — a big letter
  5. toast — a drink to someone
  6. drill — army training
  7. present — there
  8. stem — a stem cell
  9. stem — to come from
  10. file — a document
  11. file — a line of people
  12. capital — money
  13. toast — bread
  14. file — a tool
  15. present — a gift
  16. drill — the tool
  17. content — happy
  18. capital — a city
  19. pop — music
  20. present — the time now
  21. content — videos and posts
  22. pop — soda
  23. stem — of a plant
  24. pop — to visit

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