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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: land · file · swing · capital · tear · pitch

  1. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  2. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  3. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  4. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  5. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  6. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  7. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  8. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  9. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  10. David sat on the ________________.
  11. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  12. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  13. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  14. When are we going to ________________?
  15. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  16. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  17. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  18. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.

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

Answer key

  1. land — a country
  2. tear — to rip
  3. pitch — a sales talk
  4. land — ground
  5. pitch — completely
  6. tear — from crying
  7. swing — in golf
  8. pitch — a sports field
  9. file — a document
  10. swing — to play on
  11. file — a line of people
  12. capital — a city
  13. capital — money
  14. land — to come down
  15. swing — music
  16. capital — a big letter
  17. file — a tool
  18. tear — from crying

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