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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. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  2. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  3. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  4. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  5. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  6. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  7. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  8. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  9. Did you ________________ the meat?
  10. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  11. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  12. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  13. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  14. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  15. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  16. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  17. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  18. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  19. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  20. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  21. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  22. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  23. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  24. I got dealt a bad ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. season — in sport
  2. straw — a straw man
  3. capital — a city
  4. hand — part of the body
  5. capital — a big letter
  6. straw — to clutch at straws
  7. bark — of a tree
  8. tear — from crying
  9. season — to add flavour
  10. wound — past of 'wind'
  11. bark — a dog's sound
  12. tear — from crying
  13. bark — to shout
  14. wound — an injury
  15. content — videos and posts
  16. straw — dry grass
  17. tear — to rip
  18. hand — help
  19. content — the amount
  20. capital — money
  21. wound — an injury
  22. content — happy
  23. season — of the year
  24. hand — in cards

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