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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. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  2. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  3. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  4. The water is too ________________.
  5. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  6. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  7. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  8. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  9. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  10. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  11. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  12. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  13. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  14. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  15. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  16. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  17. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  18. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  19. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  20. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  21. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  22. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  23. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  24. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — a city
  2. race — a contest
  3. shower — a meteor shower
  4. cold — not warm
  5. race — the arms race
  6. rule — government
  7. stem — of a plant
  8. board — to get on
  9. tear — from crying
  10. race — humankind
  11. board — a committee
  12. shower — rain
  13. rule — to rule out
  14. shower — to wash
  15. capital — money
  16. cold — an illness
  17. tear — to rip
  18. stem — to come from
  19. cold — the Cold War
  20. capital — a big letter
  21. stem — a stem cell
  22. rule — a law
  23. board — a flat piece
  24. tear — from crying

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