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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 ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  2. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  3. He is an ace ________________.
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  6. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  7. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  8. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  9. The water is too ________________.
  10. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  11. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  12. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  13. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  14. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  15. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  16. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  17. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  18. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  19. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  20. The light ________________ burned out.
  21. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  22. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  23. I've got to change the light ________________.
  24. The ________________ took off on time.

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

Answer key

  1. pitcher — a jug
  2. capital — a city
  3. pitcher — in baseball
  4. cold — an illness
  5. foot — a measure
  6. plane — a tool
  7. foot — the bottom
  8. foot — part of the body
  9. cold — not warm
  10. pitcher — a jug
  11. file — a tool
  12. file — a document
  13. capital — a big letter
  14. file — a line of people
  15. plane — in geometry
  16. bulb — of a plant
  17. patient — a sick person
  18. patient — calm and waiting
  19. patient — a sick person
  20. bulb — for light
  21. capital — money
  22. cold — the Cold War
  23. bulb — for light
  24. plane — an aircraft

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