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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. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  2. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  3. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  4. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  5. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  6. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  7. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  8. The water is too ________________.
  9. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  10. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  11. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  12. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  13. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  14. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  15. He was locked up in a ________________.
  16. He is an ace ________________.
  17. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  18. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  19. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  20. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  21. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  22. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  23. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  24. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!

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

Answer key

  1. capital — money
  2. file — a tool
  3. hand — part of the body
  4. capital — a big letter
  5. cell — in biology
  6. cold — the Cold War
  7. pitcher — a jug
  8. cold — not warm
  9. rest — what's left
  10. bass — the instrument
  11. hand — in cards
  12. pitcher — a jug
  13. file — a document
  14. cold — an illness
  15. cell — in a prison
  16. pitcher — in baseball
  17. capital — a city
  18. file — a line of people
  19. bass — low music
  20. bass — the fish
  21. hand — help
  22. rest — what's left
  23. rest — a break
  24. cell — a phone

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