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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. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  2. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  3. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  4. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  5. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  6. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  7. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  8. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  9. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  10. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  11. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  12. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  13. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  14. The water is too ________________.
  15. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  16. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  17. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  18. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  19. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  20. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  21. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  22. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  23. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  24. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — a big letter
  2. perch — for a bird
  3. present — there
  4. net — after costs
  5. hide — to keep secret
  6. capital — a city
  7. wake — before a funeral
  8. net — for catching
  9. present — a gift
  10. hide — animal skin
  11. hide — to keep secret
  12. net — in sport
  13. wake — to stop sleeping
  14. cold — not warm
  15. chip — in a computer
  16. chip — to eat
  17. perch — for a bird
  18. cold — an illness
  19. capital — money
  20. present — the time now
  21. cold — the Cold War
  22. chip — for betting
  23. perch — the fish
  24. wake — a trail

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