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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. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  3. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  4. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  5. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  6. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  7. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  8. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  9. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  10. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  11. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  12. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  13. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  14. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  15. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  16. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  17. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  18. The ________________ market has crashed.
  19. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  20. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  21. The water is too ________________.
  22. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  23. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  24. The King held a masked ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — a big letter
  2. bark — to shout
  3. pass — a permit
  4. ball — a round shape
  5. capital — money
  6. bark — a dog's sound
  7. wax — to grow
  8. wind — moving air
  9. stock — a soup base
  10. wind — to turn a key
  11. pass — to succeed
  12. cold — an illness
  13. ball — a great time
  14. bark — of a tree
  15. wind — moving air
  16. wax — in the ear
  17. stock — goods
  18. stock — shares
  19. capital — a city
  20. wax — for sculpting
  21. cold — not warm
  22. cold — the Cold War
  23. pass — to spend time
  24. ball — a dance

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