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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. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  2. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  3. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  4. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  5. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  6. Would you like some apricot ________________?
  7. Have you settled on a ________________?
  8. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  9. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  10. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  11. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  12. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  13. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  14. Have you found your soul ________________?
  15. When are we going to ________________?
  16. Tom got himself in a ________________.
  17. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  18. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  19. The bus was late because of the traffic ________________.
  20. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  21. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  22. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  23. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  24. He was locked up in a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. land — ground
  2. capital — a big letter
  3. trunk — of a car
  4. date — on the calendar
  5. capital — a city
  6. jam — to spread on bread
  7. date — on the calendar
  8. pitch — a sports field
  9. trunk — of an elephant
  10. cell — in biology
  11. capital — money
  12. pitch — completely
  13. trunk — of a tree
  14. mate — a partner
  15. land — to come down
  16. jam — a tight spot
  17. pitch — a sales talk
  18. mate — a friend
  19. jam — in traffic
  20. mate — to breed
  21. land — a country
  22. date — the fruit
  23. cell — a phone
  24. cell — in a prison

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