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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. He has no idea where the ________________ is.
  2. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  3. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  4. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  5. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  6. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  7. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  8. Tom was very happy that his son returned home ________________ and sound.
  9. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  10. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  11. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  12. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  13. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  14. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  15. Is it ________________ for us to be here?
  16. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  17. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  18. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  19. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  20. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  21. When are we going to ________________?
  22. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  23. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  24. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.

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

Answer key

  1. safe — a strongbox
  2. capital — money
  3. capital — a city
  4. capital — a big letter
  5. land — ground
  6. bat — for baseball
  7. drill — a practice
  8. safe — out of danger
  9. bat — in an idiom
  10. drill — the tool
  11. chip — in a computer
  12. file — a line of people
  13. leaves — of a tree
  14. leaves — lets stay
  15. safe — out of danger
  16. bat — the animal
  17. land — a country
  18. file — a document
  19. leaves — to go away
  20. chip — for betting
  21. land — to come down
  22. chip — to eat
  23. file — a tool
  24. drill — army training

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