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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. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  3. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  4. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  5. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  6. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  7. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  8. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  9. The people resisted their cruel ________________.
  10. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  11. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  12. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  13. Borders were drawn on the map using a ________________, with no regard for cultural realities on the ground.
  14. A ________________ helps one to draw a straight line.
  15. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  16. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  17. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  18. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  19. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  20. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  21. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  22. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  23. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  24. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — a big letter
  2. field — for sport
  3. mine — an explosive
  4. cap — of ice
  5. stem — to come from
  6. mine — belonging to me
  7. field — a subject
  8. drill — army training
  9. ruler — a monarch
  10. drill — a practice
  11. cap — a hat
  12. kid — to tease
  13. ruler — for measuring
  14. ruler — for measuring
  15. drill — the tool
  16. capital — a city
  17. capital — money
  18. mine — for digging
  19. stem — a stem cell
  20. kid — child
  21. field — farmland
  22. stem — of a plant
  23. cap — a lid
  24. kid — young goat (kid gloves)

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