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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. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  2. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  3. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  4. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  5. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  6. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  7. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  8. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  9. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  10. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  11. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  12. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  13. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  14. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  15. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  16. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  17. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  18. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  19. The water is too ________________.
  20. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  21. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  22. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  23. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  24. He is an ace ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — a big letter
  2. track — to keep track
  3. kick — with a leg
  4. branch — of a bank
  5. cold — the Cold War
  6. track — a path
  7. content — happy
  8. branch — a division
  9. kick — a thrill
  10. content — the amount
  11. capital — a city
  12. cold — an illness
  13. content — videos and posts
  14. pitcher — a jug
  15. kick — in football
  16. track — a song
  17. branch — of a tree
  18. rule — to rule out
  19. cold — not warm
  20. rule — government
  21. rule — a law
  22. capital — money
  23. pitcher — a jug
  24. pitcher — in baseball

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