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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. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  2. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  3. When are we going to ________________?
  4. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  5. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  6. She works as an advertiser at a New Jersey ________________.
  7. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  8. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  9. The water is too ________________.
  10. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  11. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  12. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  13. I'll stand ________________ for what I deserve.
  14. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  15. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  16. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  17. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  18. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  19. Nothing provides more peace of mind than a ________________ decision.
  20. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  21. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  22. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  23. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  24. You can't go backstage without a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — the Cold War
  2. file — a document
  3. land — to come down
  4. file — a line of people
  5. file — a tool
  6. firm — a company
  7. capital — a city
  8. land — a country
  9. cold — not warm
  10. straw — dry grass
  11. straw — to clutch at straws
  12. scale — size or range
  13. firm — steady
  14. cold — an illness
  15. scale — for weighing
  16. pass — to spend time
  17. capital — a big letter
  18. scale — in music
  19. firm — decided
  20. pass — to succeed
  21. straw — a straw man
  22. land — ground
  23. capital — money
  24. pass — a permit

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