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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 120 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 elephant has a huge ________________.
  3. The water is too ________________.
  4. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  5. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  6. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  7. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  8. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  9. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  10. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  11. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  12. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  13. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  14. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  15. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  16. He was locked up in a ________________.
  17. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  18. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  19. Did you ________________ the button?
  20. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  21. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  22. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  23. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  24. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — a big letter
  2. trunk — of an elephant
  3. cold — not warm
  4. march — the month
  5. trunk — of a car
  6. capital — money
  7. cell — in biology
  8. object — a thing
  9. object — an aim
  10. cell — a phone
  11. object — to protest
  12. wax — for sculpting
  13. march — music
  14. wax — to grow
  15. march — the month
  16. cell — in a prison
  17. trunk — of a tree
  18. capital — a city
  19. press — to push
  20. cold — the Cold War
  21. cold — an illness
  22. wax — in the ear
  23. press — newspapers
  24. press — a publisher

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