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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. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  2. False peace will not ________________.
  3. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  4. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  5. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  6. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  7. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  8. Have you found your soul ________________?
  9. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  10. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  11. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  12. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  13. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  14. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  15. The water is too ________________.
  16. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  17. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  18. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  19. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  20. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  21. He is an ace ________________.
  22. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  23. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  24. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — money
  2. last — to go on
  3. fork — to eat with
  4. race — a contest
  5. race — the arms race
  6. last — finally
  7. last — final
  8. mate — a partner
  9. stem — a stem cell
  10. capital — a big letter
  11. pitcher — a jug
  12. fork — a garden tool
  13. stem — of a plant
  14. stem — to come from
  15. cold — not warm
  16. cold — the Cold War
  17. mate — a friend
  18. capital — a city
  19. race — humankind
  20. mate — to breed
  21. pitcher — in baseball
  22. cold — an illness
  23. pitcher — a jug
  24. fork — in a road

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