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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 from the word bank in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

Word bank: capital · march · kid · file · dip · toast

  1. After the show, she was the ________________ of the town.
  2. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  3. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  4. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  5. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  6. I would like to propose a ________________ on your birthday.
  7. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  8. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  9. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  10. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  11. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  12. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  13. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  14. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  15. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  16. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  17. I like lots of butter on my ________________ in the morning.
  18. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.

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

Answer key

  1. toast — the most admired
  2. capital — money
  3. march — music
  4. file — a document
  5. capital — a big letter
  6. toast — a drink to someone
  7. march — the month
  8. dip — to dunk
  9. kid — child
  10. march — the month
  11. file — a tool
  12. capital — a city
  13. kid — to tease
  14. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  15. dip — a sauce
  16. file — a line of people
  17. toast — bread
  18. dip — to sink

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