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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. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  2. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  3. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  4. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  5. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  6. She's very handy with a ________________.
  7. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  8. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  9. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  10. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  11. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  12. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  13. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  14. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  15. He works in a ________________ mill.
  16. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  17. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  18. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  19. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  20. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  21. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  22. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  23. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  24. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. mine — belonging to me
  2. capital — money
  3. mine — an explosive
  4. kid — child
  5. patient — calm and waiting
  6. saw — the tool
  7. perch — for a bird
  8. kid — to tease
  9. saw — past of 'see'
  10. file — a tool
  11. perch — the fish
  12. capital — a big letter
  13. mine — for digging
  14. stick — a piece of wood
  15. saw — the tool
  16. file — a document
  17. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  18. file — a line of people
  19. capital — a city
  20. stick — to attach or keep to
  21. patient — a sick person
  22. patient — a sick person
  23. perch — for a bird
  24. stick — a piece of wood

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