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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. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  2. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  3. When are we going to ________________?
  4. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  5. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  6. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  7. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  8. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  9. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  10. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  11. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  12. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  13. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  14. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  15. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  16. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  17. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  18. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  19. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  20. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  21. Have you settled on a ________________?
  22. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  23. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  24. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.

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

Answer key

  1. wind — to turn a key
  2. capital — money
  3. land — to come down
  4. file — a line of people
  5. lean — to bend
  6. date — the fruit
  7. lean — thin
  8. file — a tool
  9. dip — to sink
  10. lean — to rest against
  11. fine — a penalty
  12. wind — moving air
  13. dip — a sauce
  14. dip — to dunk
  15. capital — a big letter
  16. date — on the calendar
  17. wind — moving air
  18. capital — a city
  19. land — ground
  20. file — a document
  21. date — on the calendar
  22. fine — all right
  23. fine — high quality
  24. land — a country

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