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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. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  2. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  3. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  4. Nothing provides more peace of mind than a ________________ decision.
  5. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  6. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  7. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  8. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  9. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  10. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  11. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  12. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  13. The water is too ________________.
  14. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  15. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  16. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  17. I'll stand ________________ for what I deserve.
  18. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  19. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  20. She works as an advertiser at a New Jersey ________________.
  21. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  22. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  23. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  24. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. wound — an injury
  2. mine — belonging to me
  3. cold — an illness
  4. firm — decided
  5. mine — for digging
  6. board — to get on
  7. capital — a city
  8. capital — a big letter
  9. mine — an explosive
  10. lash — a whip stroke
  11. wound — past of 'wind'
  12. cold — the Cold War
  13. cold — not warm
  14. lash — an eyelash
  15. board — a committee
  16. file — a line of people
  17. firm — steady
  18. wound — an injury
  19. file — a tool
  20. firm — a company
  21. file — a document
  22. lash — to lash out
  23. board — a flat piece
  24. capital — money

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