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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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Word bank
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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: present · march · capital · bat · chair · fine

  1. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  2. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  3. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  4. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  5. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  6. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  7. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  8. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  9. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  10. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  11. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  12. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  13. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  14. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  15. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  16. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  17. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  18. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.

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

Answer key

  1. fine — high quality
  2. march — the month
  3. capital — money
  4. present — a gift
  5. fine — a penalty
  6. fine — all right
  7. bat — the animal
  8. march — the month
  9. bat — for baseball
  10. march — music
  11. bat — in an idiom
  12. chair — a leader
  13. chair — to sit on
  14. chair — a professorship
  15. present — the time now
  16. capital — a big letter
  17. capital — a city
  18. present — there

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