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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 hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  2. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  3. The water is too ________________.
  4. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  5. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  6. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  7. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  8. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  9. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  10. That was ________________ to happen.
  11. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  12. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  13. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  14. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  15. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  16. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  17. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  18. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  19. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  20. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  21. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  22. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  23. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  24. Have you settled on a ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. lie — to recline
  2. capital — a big letter
  3. cold — not warm
  4. bound — tied together
  5. shower — a meteor shower
  6. net — in sport
  7. capital — money
  8. present — there
  9. net — after costs
  10. bound — certain
  11. lie — an untruth
  12. bound — obliged
  13. date — the fruit
  14. shower — rain
  15. cold — an illness
  16. present — a gift
  17. lie — an untruth
  18. capital — a city
  19. shower — to wash
  20. present — the time now
  21. net — for catching
  22. date — on the calendar
  23. cold — the Cold War
  24. date — on the calendar

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