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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. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  2. The water is too ________________.
  3. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  4. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  5. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  6. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  7. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  8. The tickets are free of ________________.
  9. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  10. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  11. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  12. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  13. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  14. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  15. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  16. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  17. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  18. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  19. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  20. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  21. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  22. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  23. When are we going to ________________?
  24. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — a city
  2. cold — not warm
  3. prune — the fruit
  4. charge — electricity
  5. file — a tool
  6. charge — in control
  7. cold — the Cold War
  8. charge — a price
  9. capital — a big letter
  10. prune — to trim
  11. land — a country
  12. trunk — of an elephant
  13. land — ground
  14. prune — to trim
  15. capital — money
  16. trunk — of a car
  17. stick — a piece of wood
  18. stick — to attach or keep to
  19. trunk — of a tree
  20. cold — an illness
  21. stick — a piece of wood
  22. file — a document
  23. land — to come down
  24. file — a line of people

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