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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. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  2. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  3. There's no middle ________________.
  4. That was ________________ to happen.
  5. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  6. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  7. The water is too ________________.
  8. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  9. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  10. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  11. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  12. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  13. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  16. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  17. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  18. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  19. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  20. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  21. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  22. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  23. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  24. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.

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

Answer key

  1. bound — obliged
  2. rock — a stone
  3. ground — a position
  4. bound — certain
  5. ground — crushed
  6. capital — a big letter
  7. cold — not warm
  8. capital — a city
  9. capital — money
  10. fall — to drop
  11. fall — the season
  12. ground — the earth
  13. bound — tied together
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. rock — to move gently
  16. rock — music
  17. trunk — of a car
  18. cap — a lid
  19. fall — to drop
  20. cap — of ice
  21. cold — an illness
  22. trunk — of an elephant
  23. cap — a hat
  24. trunk — of a tree

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