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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. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  2. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  3. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  4. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  5. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  6. How do you ________________ your surname?
  7. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  8. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  9. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  10. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  11. He was locked up in a ________________.
  12. There's no middle ________________.
  13. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  14. The water is too ________________.
  15. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  16. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  17. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  18. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  19. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  20. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  21. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  22. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  23. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  24. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.

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

Answer key

  1. cell — in biology
  2. capital — a city
  3. capital — money
  4. cell — a phone
  5. ground — crushed
  6. spell — letters
  7. spell — a short time
  8. deal — a big deal
  9. band — a rubber band
  10. band — a ring
  11. cell — in a prison
  12. ground — a position
  13. cold — an illness
  14. cold — not warm
  15. can — a tin
  16. can — to be able to
  17. can — a tin
  18. deal — an agreement
  19. spell — magic
  20. cold — the Cold War
  21. deal — to handle
  22. ground — the earth
  23. band — a music group
  24. capital — a big letter

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