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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. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  2. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  3. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  4. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  5. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  6. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  7. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  8. Have you found your soul ________________?
  9. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  10. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  11. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  12. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  13. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  14. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  15. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  16. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  17. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  18. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  19. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  20. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  21. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  22. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  23. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  24. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — money
  2. hide — animal skin
  3. straw — dry grass
  4. chair — a leader
  5. hide — to keep secret
  6. capital — a city
  7. tear — to rip
  8. mate — a partner
  9. mate — to breed
  10. mine — belonging to me
  11. scale — for weighing
  12. scale — in music
  13. chair — to sit on
  14. hide — to keep secret
  15. mine — for digging
  16. tear — from crying
  17. straw — a straw man
  18. tear — from crying
  19. mine — an explosive
  20. scale — size or range
  21. mate — a friend
  22. chair — a professorship
  23. capital — a big letter
  24. straw — to clutch at straws

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