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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 beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  2. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  3. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  4. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  5. She's very handy with a ________________.
  6. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  7. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  8. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  9. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  10. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  11. He works in a ________________ mill.
  12. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  13. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  14. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  15. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  16. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  17. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  18. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  19. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  20. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  21. There's no middle ________________.
  22. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  23. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  24. It's one o'clock ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — a big letter
  2. row — a line
  3. fall — to drop
  4. march — the month
  5. saw — the tool
  6. row — a quarrel
  7. march — the month
  8. fall — to drop
  9. row — to paddle
  10. sharp — with an edge
  11. saw — the tool
  12. saw — past of 'see'
  13. ground — the earth
  14. fall — the season
  15. trunk — of a car
  16. trunk — of a tree
  17. march — music
  18. ground — crushed
  19. capital — a city
  20. trunk — of an elephant
  21. ground — a position
  22. capital — money
  23. sharp — clever
  24. sharp — exactly

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