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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. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  2. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  3. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  4. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  5. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  6. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  7. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  8. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  9. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  10. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  11. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  12. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  13. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  14. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  15. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  16. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  17. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  18. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  19. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  20. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  21. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  22. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  23. False peace will not ________________.
  24. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?

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

Answer key

  1. file — a document
  2. trunk — of an elephant
  3. file — a tool
  4. mine — for digging
  5. capital — a big letter
  6. spring — a coil
  7. trunk — of a car
  8. spring — the season
  9. mine — belonging to me
  10. hide — to keep secret
  11. capital — a city
  12. last — final
  13. mine — an explosive
  14. spring — of water
  15. last — finally
  16. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  17. file — a line of people
  18. capital — money
  19. trunk — of a tree
  20. kid — child
  21. kid — to tease
  22. hide — animal skin
  23. last — to go on
  24. hide — to keep secret

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