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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. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  2. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  3. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  4. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  5. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  6. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  7. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  8. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  9. How do you ________________ your surname?
  10. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  11. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  12. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  13. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  14. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  15. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  16. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  17. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  18. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  19. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  20. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  21. He was locked up in a ________________.
  22. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  23. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  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. branch — of a bank
  2. march — the month
  3. capital — a city
  4. capital — a big letter
  5. hide — to keep secret
  6. spell — a short time
  7. file — a tool
  8. pitch — completely
  9. spell — letters
  10. file — a line of people
  11. branch — of a tree
  12. march — the month
  13. hide — to keep secret
  14. pitch — a sports field
  15. branch — a division
  16. file — a document
  17. march — music
  18. pitch — a sales talk
  19. capital — money
  20. cell — a phone
  21. cell — in a prison
  22. hide — animal skin
  23. cell — in biology
  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