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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. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  2. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  3. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  4. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  5. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  6. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  7. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  8. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  9. He is an ace ________________.
  10. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  11. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  12. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  13. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  14. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  15. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  16. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  17. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  18. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  19. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  20. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  21. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  22. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  23. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  24. He was blown up by a land ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. staff — a stick
  2. shower — to wash
  3. field — farmland
  4. capital — money
  5. present — there
  6. staff — employees
  7. present — the time now
  8. shower — rain
  9. pitcher — in baseball
  10. field — for sport
  11. field — a subject
  12. pass — to spend time
  13. present — a gift
  14. mine — for digging
  15. pass — to succeed
  16. pitcher — a jug
  17. staff — employees
  18. mine — belonging to me
  19. shower — a meteor shower
  20. pass — a permit
  21. capital — a city
  22. capital — a big letter
  23. pitcher — a jug
  24. mine — an explosive

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