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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. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  2. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  3. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  4. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  5. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  6. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  7. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  8. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  9. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  10. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  11. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  12. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  13. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  14. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  15. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  16. This piece is in a major ________________.
  17. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  18. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  19. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  20. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  21. False peace will not ________________.
  22. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  23. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  24. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?

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

Answer key

  1. capital — a big letter
  2. field — for sport
  3. patient — calm and waiting
  4. last — final
  5. capital — a city
  6. shower — to wash
  7. scale — in music
  8. club — for dancing
  9. scale — size or range
  10. club — for golf
  11. scale — for weighing
  12. key — the most important part
  13. last — finally
  14. patient — a sick person
  15. shower — rain
  16. key — in music
  17. capital — money
  18. field — a subject
  19. club — a group
  20. field — farmland
  21. last — to go on
  22. shower — a meteor shower
  23. patient — a sick person
  24. key — for a lock

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