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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 university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  2. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  3. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  4. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  5. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  6. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  7. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  8. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  9. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  10. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  11. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  12. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  13. The ________________ market has crashed.
  14. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  15. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  16. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  17. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  18. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  19. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  20. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  21. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  22. When are we going to ________________?
  23. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  24. I've got the luggage in my ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — from a university
  2. capital — a big letter
  3. fall — the season
  4. fall — to drop
  5. fine — all right
  6. file — a document
  7. degree — an amount
  8. land — a country
  9. capital — a city
  10. trunk — of an elephant
  11. degree — temperature
  12. file — a line of people
  13. stock — shares
  14. stock — goods
  15. fall — to drop
  16. fine — a penalty
  17. trunk — of a tree
  18. land — ground
  19. fine — high quality
  20. file — a tool
  21. capital — money
  22. land — to come down
  23. stock — a soup base
  24. trunk — of a car

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