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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. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  2. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  3. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  4. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  5. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  6. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  7. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  8. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  9. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  10. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  11. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  12. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  13. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  14. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  15. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  16. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  17. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  18. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  19. The ________________ took off on time.
  20. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  21. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  22. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  23. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  24. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. chair — to sit on
  2. capital — a big letter
  3. stick — a piece of wood
  4. chair — a leader
  5. fork — a garden tool
  6. capital — a city
  7. field — farmland
  8. stick — to attach or keep to
  9. fork — in a road
  10. tear — from crying
  11. tear — to rip
  12. bore — to tire
  13. fork — to eat with
  14. field — for sport
  15. bore — to drill
  16. bore — gave birth
  17. chair — a professorship
  18. plane — a tool
  19. plane — an aircraft
  20. capital — money
  21. field — a subject
  22. tear — from crying
  23. stick — a piece of wood
  24. plane — in geometry

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