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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 120 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. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  2. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  3. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  4. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  5. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  6. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  7. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  8. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  9. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  10. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  11. It's one o'clock ________________.
  12. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  13. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  14. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  15. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  16. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  17. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  18. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  19. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  20. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  21. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  22. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  23. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  24. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.

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

Answer key

  1. mine — an explosive
  2. trunk — of a car
  3. file — a document
  4. mine — for digging
  5. march — the month
  6. capital — money
  7. file — a tool
  8. file — a line of people
  9. row — to paddle
  10. capital — a city
  11. sharp — exactly
  12. rule — a law
  13. capital — a big letter
  14. row — a quarrel
  15. march — the month
  16. rule — to rule out
  17. trunk — of an elephant
  18. row — a line
  19. sharp — clever
  20. sharp — with an edge
  21. march — music
  22. mine — belonging to me
  23. rule — government
  24. trunk — of a tree

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

Make a worksheet (0 words)

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