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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. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  3. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  4. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  5. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  6. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  7. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  8. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  9. That was a fun ________________.
  10. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  11. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  12. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  13. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  14. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  15. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  16. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  17. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  18. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  19. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  20. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  21. The ________________ took off on time.
  22. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  23. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  24. Check the label for the sugar ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — money
  2. plane — a tool
  3. game — a kind of play
  4. cap — a lid
  5. tear — from crying
  6. tear — to rip
  7. tear — from crying
  8. content — happy
  9. game — a match
  10. plane — in geometry
  11. scale — in music
  12. game — wild animals
  13. capital — a city
  14. capital — a big letter
  15. cap — of ice
  16. scale — size or range
  17. scale — for weighing
  18. cap — a hat
  19. file — a document
  20. file — a tool
  21. plane — an aircraft
  22. file — a line of people
  23. content — videos and posts
  24. content — the amount

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