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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 116 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. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  2. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  3. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  4. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  5. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  6. That was a fun ________________.
  7. I'll be taking the ________________.
  8. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  9. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  10. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  11. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  12. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  13. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  14. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  15. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  16. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  17. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  18. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  19. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  20. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  21. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  22. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  23. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  24. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.

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

Answer key

  1. tube — a container
  2. game — a kind of play
  3. capital — a city
  4. capital — money
  5. wound — an injury
  6. game — a match
  7. tube — the underground
  8. track — a path
  9. current — of water
  10. game — wild animals
  11. capital — a big letter
  12. fine — a penalty
  13. current — electric
  14. fine — high quality
  15. track — a song
  16. wound — an injury
  17. track — to keep track
  18. field — farmland
  19. tube — in a tire
  20. fine — all right
  21. wound — past of 'wind'
  22. field — for sport
  23. field — a subject
  24. current — happening now

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