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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. That was ________________ to happen.
  2. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  3. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  4. The water is too ________________.
  5. We're almost out of ________________.
  6. You don't need to ________________ round.
  7. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  8. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  9. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  10. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  11. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  12. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  13. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  14. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  15. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  16. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  17. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  18. I can't ________________ this cold.
  19. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  20. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  21. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  22. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  23. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  24. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.

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

Answer key

  1. bound — certain
  2. bark — of a tree
  3. capital — a city
  4. cold — not warm
  5. pop — soda
  6. pop — to visit
  7. stand — on your feet
  8. pop — music
  9. capital — a big letter
  10. bark — a dog's sound
  11. bark — to shout
  12. cold — an illness
  13. bound — tied together
  14. stand — for spectators
  15. cap — a lid
  16. capital — money
  17. cap — a hat
  18. stand — to bear
  19. pit — a hole
  20. pit — a fruit stone
  21. bound — obliged
  22. cap — of ice
  23. pit — in a race
  24. cold — the Cold War

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