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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 120 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. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  2. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  3. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  4. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  5. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  6. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  7. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  8. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  9. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  10. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  11. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  12. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  13. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  14. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  15. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  16. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  17. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  18. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  19. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  20. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  21. The ________________ went through the wall.
  22. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  23. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  24. Beijing is the ________________ of China.

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

Answer key

  1. fan — to cool the air
  2. bark — of a tree
  3. capital — money
  4. mine — for digging
  5. nail — on a finger
  6. cap — a hat
  7. hand — part of the body
  8. mine — an explosive
  9. mine — belonging to me
  10. wake — to stop sleeping
  11. wake — a trail
  12. hand — help
  13. bark — to shout
  14. wake — before a funeral
  15. cap — a lid
  16. fan — a supporter
  17. capital — a big letter
  18. cap — of ice
  19. bark — a dog's sound
  20. hand — in cards
  21. nail — for a hammer
  22. nail — for a hammer
  23. fan — a supporter
  24. capital — a city

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