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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. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  2. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  3. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  4. The water is too ________________.
  5. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  6. When are we going to ________________?
  7. Have you settled on a ________________?
  8. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  9. It's one o'clock ________________.
  10. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  11. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  12. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  13. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  14. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  15. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  16. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  17. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  18. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  19. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  20. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  21. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  22. How do you ________________ your surname?
  23. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  24. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — money
  2. fan — to cool the air
  3. sharp — clever
  4. cold — not warm
  5. capital — a city
  6. land — to come down
  7. date — on the calendar
  8. land — a country
  9. sharp — exactly
  10. spell — a short time
  11. fan — a supporter
  12. date — the fruit
  13. bore — to tire
  14. bore — gave birth
  15. date — on the calendar
  16. bore — to drill
  17. capital — a big letter
  18. cold — the Cold War
  19. land — ground
  20. cold — an illness
  21. fan — a supporter
  22. spell — letters
  23. sharp — with an edge
  24. spell — magic

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