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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 second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  2. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  3. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  4. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  5. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  6. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  7. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  8. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  9. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  10. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  11. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  12. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  13. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  14. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  15. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  16. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  17. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  18. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  19. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  20. It's one o'clock ________________.
  21. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  22. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  23. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  24. This knife is not ________________ enough.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — money
  2. field — for sport
  3. file — a tool
  4. sharp — clever
  5. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  6. kid — child
  7. file — a document
  8. perch — for a bird
  9. field — farmland
  10. field — a subject
  11. perch — for a bird
  12. capital — a city
  13. capital — a big letter
  14. march — music
  15. march — the month
  16. march — the month
  17. kid — to tease
  18. file — a line of people
  19. snap — to snap out of it
  20. sharp — exactly
  21. snap — to click
  22. snap — to speak sharply
  23. perch — the fish
  24. sharp — with an edge

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