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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. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  2. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  3. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  4. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  5. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  6. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  7. I like lots of butter on my ________________ in the morning.
  8. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  9. After the show, she was the ________________ of the town.
  10. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  11. The water is too ________________.
  12. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  13. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  14. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  15. False peace will not ________________.
  16. I would like to propose a ________________ on your birthday.
  17. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  18. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  19. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  20. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  21. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  22. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  23. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  24. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. current — of water
  2. last — finally
  3. pound — to hit hard
  4. last — final
  5. prune — to trim
  6. march — the month
  7. toast — bread
  8. capital — a big letter
  9. toast — the most admired
  10. capital — a city
  11. cold — not warm
  12. pound — for dogs
  13. pound — a weight
  14. prune — to trim
  15. last — to go on
  16. toast — a drink to someone
  17. current — happening now
  18. march — music
  19. cold — an illness
  20. prune — the fruit
  21. cold — the Cold War
  22. current — electric
  23. march — the month
  24. capital — money

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