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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. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  2. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  3. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  4. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  5. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  6. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  7. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  8. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  9. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  10. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  11. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  12. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  13. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  14. This piece is in a major ________________.
  15. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  16. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  17. How do you ________________ your surname?
  18. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  19. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  20. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  21. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  22. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  23. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  24. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — a big letter
  2. field — a subject
  3. patient — calm and waiting
  4. capital — a city
  5. hand — in cards
  6. object — a thing
  7. object — to protest
  8. key — for a lock
  9. patient — a sick person
  10. object — an aim
  11. key — the most important part
  12. hand — part of the body
  13. field — farmland
  14. key — in music
  15. patient — a sick person
  16. spell — a short time
  17. spell — letters
  18. spell — magic
  19. capital — money
  20. hand — help
  21. rule — to rule out
  22. rule — a law
  23. rule — government
  24. field — for sport

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