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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 116 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. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  2. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  3. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  4. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  5. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  6. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  7. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  8. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  9. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  10. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  11. The water is too ________________.
  12. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  13. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  14. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  15. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  16. That was ________________ to happen.
  17. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  18. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  19. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  20. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  21. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  22. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  23. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  24. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — money
  2. capital — a city
  3. file — a line of people
  4. bound — obliged
  5. scale — for weighing
  6. wake — before a funeral
  7. capital — a big letter
  8. net — after costs
  9. wake — a trail
  10. cold — the Cold War
  11. cold — not warm
  12. wake — to stop sleeping
  13. bound — tied together
  14. scale — in music
  15. net — for catching
  16. bound — certain
  17. file — a tool
  18. cold — an illness
  19. lean — to rest against
  20. lean — thin
  21. net — in sport
  22. scale — size or range
  23. file — a document
  24. lean — to bend

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