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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 kitten curled into a ________________.
  2. When are we going to ________________?
  3. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  4. The water is too ________________.
  5. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  6. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  7. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  8. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  9. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  10. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  11. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  12. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  13. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  14. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  15. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  16. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  17. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  18. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  19. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  20. The King held a masked ________________.
  21. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  22. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  23. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  24. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.

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

Answer key

  1. ball — a round shape
  2. land — to come down
  3. lean — to rest against
  4. cold — not warm
  5. file — a document
  6. capital — money
  7. ball — a great time
  8. mark — a trace
  9. capital — a city
  10. hand — in cards
  11. lean — thin
  12. cold — the Cold War
  13. hand — help
  14. capital — a big letter
  15. land — ground
  16. file — a line of people
  17. mark — to pay attention
  18. hand — part of the body
  19. cold — an illness
  20. ball — a dance
  21. mark — a grade
  22. file — a tool
  23. lean — to bend
  24. land — a country

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