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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. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  2. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  3. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  4. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  5. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  6. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  7. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  8. Don't do anything ________________.
  9. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  10. The water is too ________________.
  11. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  12. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  13. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  14. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  15. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  16. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  17. He is an ace ________________.
  18. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  19. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  20. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  21. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  22. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  23. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  24. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.

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

Answer key

  1. present — a gift
  2. capital — a big letter
  3. cold — an illness
  4. capital — money
  5. patient — calm and waiting
  6. cold — the Cold War
  7. present — the time now
  8. rash — hasty
  9. object — an aim
  10. cold — not warm
  11. patient — a sick person
  12. pitcher — a jug
  13. present — there
  14. rash — a series
  15. pitcher — a jug
  16. rash — on the skin
  17. pitcher — in baseball
  18. march — the month
  19. march — the month
  20. object — to protest
  21. object — a thing
  22. patient — a sick person
  23. capital — a city
  24. march — music

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