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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. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  2. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  3. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  4. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  5. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  6. Is it ________________ for us to be here?
  7. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  8. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  9. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  10. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  11. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  12. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  13. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  14. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  15. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  16. Tom was very happy that his son returned home ________________ and sound.
  17. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  18. False peace will not ________________.
  19. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  20. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  21. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  22. He has no idea where the ________________ is.
  23. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  24. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.

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

Answer key

  1. wound — past of 'wind'
  2. mine — for digging
  3. pit — a hole
  4. capital — a city
  5. capital — money
  6. safe — out of danger
  7. mine — belonging to me
  8. last — final
  9. capital — a big letter
  10. last — finally
  11. file — a line of people
  12. wind — moving air
  13. file — a tool
  14. pit — in a race
  15. wound — an injury
  16. safe — out of danger
  17. wind — moving air
  18. last — to go on
  19. wound — an injury
  20. mine — an explosive
  21. wind — to turn a key
  22. safe — a strongbox
  23. pit — a fruit stone
  24. file — a document

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