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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. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  3. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  4. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  5. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  6. The water is too ________________.
  7. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  8. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  9. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  10. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  11. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  12. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  13. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  14. How do you ________________ your surname?
  15. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  16. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  17. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  18. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  19. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  20. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  21. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  22. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  23. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  24. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — a big letter
  2. spell — magic
  3. current — happening now
  4. leaves — lets stay
  5. field — a subject
  6. cold — not warm
  7. current — electric
  8. leaves — of a tree
  9. net — in sport
  10. net — for catching
  11. leaves — to go away
  12. capital — a city
  13. capital — money
  14. spell — letters
  15. cold — an illness
  16. patient — a sick person
  17. cold — the Cold War
  18. net — after costs
  19. patient — calm and waiting
  20. field — for sport
  21. spell — a short time
  22. field — farmland
  23. current — of water
  24. patient — a sick person

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