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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. When are we going to ________________?
  2. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  3. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  4. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  5. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  6. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  7. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  8. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  9. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  10. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  11. Did you ________________ the meat?
  12. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  13. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  14. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  15. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  16. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  17. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  18. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  19. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  20. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  21. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  22. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  23. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  24. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. land — to come down
  2. file — a line of people
  3. capital — a city
  4. season — in sport
  5. vault — a safe
  6. season — of the year
  7. chair — a professorship
  8. land — a country
  9. chair — a leader
  10. chair — to sit on
  11. season — to add flavour
  12. land — ground
  13. vault — an arched ceiling
  14. squash — to crush
  15. shower — a meteor shower
  16. squash — the vegetable
  17. squash — the sport
  18. capital — a big letter
  19. capital — money
  20. file — a document
  21. shower — to wash
  22. shower — rain
  23. vault — in gymnastics
  24. file — a tool

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