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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 120 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: chair · snap · march · capital · mouse · mine · tear · stick

  1. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  2. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  3. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  4. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  5. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  6. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  7. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  8. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  9. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  10. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  11. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  12. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  13. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  14. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  15. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  16. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  17. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  18. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  19. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  20. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  21. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  22. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  23. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  24. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.

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

Answer key

  1. mine — an explosive
  2. snap — to click
  3. snap — to speak sharply
  4. mouse — the animal
  5. stick — a piece of wood
  6. tear — to rip
  7. chair — a leader
  8. capital — a big letter
  9. capital — a city
  10. mouse — the animal
  11. capital — money
  12. chair — a professorship
  13. mine — for digging
  14. chair — to sit on
  15. march — music
  16. tear — from crying
  17. march — the month
  18. stick — a piece of wood
  19. mine — belonging to me
  20. march — the month
  21. snap — to snap out of it
  22. mouse — for a computer
  23. tear — from crying
  24. stick — to attach or keep to

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