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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. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  2. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  3. Have you found your soul ________________?
  4. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  5. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  6. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  7. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  8. She's very handy with a ________________.
  9. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  10. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  11. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  12. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  13. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  14. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  15. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  16. The water is too ________________.
  17. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  18. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  19. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  20. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  21. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  22. He works in a ________________ mill.
  23. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  24. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.

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

Answer key

  1. tear — to rip
  2. staff — a stick
  3. mate — a partner
  4. cold — the Cold War
  5. current — electric
  6. spring — the season
  7. capital — a big letter
  8. saw — the tool
  9. current — happening now
  10. staff — employees
  11. saw — past of 'see'
  12. cold — an illness
  13. spring — of water
  14. mate — a friend
  15. tear — from crying
  16. cold — not warm
  17. tear — from crying
  18. mate — to breed
  19. spring — a coil
  20. capital — money
  21. current — of water
  22. saw — the tool
  23. capital — a city
  24. staff — employees

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