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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. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  2. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  3. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  4. How do you ________________ your surname?
  5. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  6. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  7. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  8. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  9. That was a fun ________________.
  10. Did you ________________ the meat?
  11. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  12. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  13. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  14. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  15. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  16. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  17. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  18. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  19. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  20. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  21. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  22. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  23. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  24. Beijing is the ________________ of China.

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

Answer key

  1. staff — employees
  2. capital — money
  3. march — the month
  4. spell — letters
  5. staff — a stick
  6. staff — employees
  7. club — a group
  8. content — videos and posts
  9. game — a match
  10. season — to add flavour
  11. season — in sport
  12. spell — magic
  13. club — for dancing
  14. club — for golf
  15. march — music
  16. capital — a big letter
  17. march — the month
  18. season — of the year
  19. game — a kind of play
  20. content — happy
  21. game — wild animals
  22. content — the amount
  23. spell — a short time
  24. capital — a city

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