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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. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  2. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  3. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  4. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  5. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  6. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  7. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  8. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  9. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  10. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  11. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  12. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  13. The water is too ________________.
  14. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  15. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  16. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  17. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  18. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  19. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  20. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  21. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  22. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  23. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  24. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.

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

Answer key

  1. fork — to eat with
  2. stick — a piece of wood
  3. kid — to tease
  4. capital — money
  5. capital — a big letter
  6. wax — in the ear
  7. fork — a garden tool
  8. fork — in a road
  9. leaves — of a tree
  10. pitch — a sports field
  11. cold — an illness
  12. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  13. cold — not warm
  14. leaves — to go away
  15. cold — the Cold War
  16. capital — a city
  17. wax — to grow
  18. kid — child
  19. wax — for sculpting
  20. stick — to attach or keep to
  21. stick — a piece of wood
  22. pitch — a sales talk
  23. leaves — lets stay
  24. pitch — completely

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