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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. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  2. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  3. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  4. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  5. How do you ________________ your surname?
  6. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  7. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  8. The water is too ________________.
  9. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  10. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  11. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  12. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  13. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  14. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  15. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  16. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  17. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  18. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  19. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  20. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  21. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  22. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  23. Have you met the new head ________________?
  24. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.

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

Answer key

  1. staff — employees
  2. capital — money
  3. field — for sport
  4. staff — a stick
  5. spell — letters
  6. bore — to drill
  7. bore — to tire
  8. cold — not warm
  9. perch — for a bird
  10. capital — a city
  11. cold — an illness
  12. spell — magic
  13. capital — a big letter
  14. perch — the fish
  15. spell — a short time
  16. bore — gave birth
  17. staff — employees
  18. cold — the Cold War
  19. field — farmland
  20. field — a subject
  21. perch — for a bird
  22. coach — pulled by horses
  23. coach — a trainer
  24. coach — a trainer

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