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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. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  2. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  3. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  4. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  5. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  6. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  7. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  8. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  9. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  10. He was locked up in a ________________.
  11. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  12. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  13. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  14. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  15. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  16. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  17. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  18. I'll be taking the ________________.
  19. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  20. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  21. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  22. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  23. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  24. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — a city
  2. shower — rain
  3. shower — a meteor shower
  4. cell — a phone
  5. shower — to wash
  6. tube — a container
  7. scale — for weighing
  8. capital — a big letter
  9. scale — in music
  10. cell — in a prison
  11. field — farmland
  12. pit — a fruit stone
  13. tear — from crying
  14. pit — a hole
  15. tear — to rip
  16. cell — in biology
  17. pit — in a race
  18. tube — the underground
  19. field — a subject
  20. capital — money
  21. scale — size or range
  22. tear — from crying
  23. tube — in a tire
  24. field — for sport

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