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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. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  3. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  4. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  5. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  6. He is an ace ________________.
  7. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  8. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  9. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  10. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  11. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  12. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  13. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  14. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  15. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  16. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  17. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  18. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  19. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  20. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  21. Have you found your soul ________________?
  22. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  23. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  24. The water is too ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — a city
  2. bowl — a dish
  3. cold — an illness
  4. object — an aim
  5. mate — a friend
  6. pitcher — in baseball
  7. object — to protest
  8. field — farmland
  9. capital — money
  10. capital — a big letter
  11. bowl — to roll
  12. root — of a word
  13. mate — to breed
  14. field — a subject
  15. cold — the Cold War
  16. field — for sport
  17. root — of a plant
  18. pitcher — a jug
  19. bowl — a football final
  20. object — a thing
  21. mate — a partner
  22. pitcher — a jug
  23. root — the cause
  24. cold — not warm

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