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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. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  2. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  3. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  4. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  5. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  6. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  7. He is an ace ________________.
  8. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  9. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  10. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  11. He was locked up in a ________________.
  12. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  13. This piece is in a major ________________.
  14. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  15. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  16. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  17. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  18. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  19. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  20. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  21. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  22. The water is too ________________.
  23. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  24. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.

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

Answer key

  1. tear — from crying
  2. pound — a weight
  3. capital — a big letter
  4. tear — from crying
  5. capital — money
  6. cold — the Cold War
  7. pitcher — in baseball
  8. pitcher — a jug
  9. pitcher — a jug
  10. pound — to hit hard
  11. cell — in a prison
  12. key — the most important part
  13. key — in music
  14. trunk — of a tree
  15. key — for a lock
  16. cell — a phone
  17. tear — to rip
  18. cold — an illness
  19. trunk — of a car
  20. pound — for dogs
  21. capital — a city
  22. cold — not warm
  23. trunk — of an elephant
  24. cell — in biology

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