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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: season · staff · last · capital · track · drill · saw · wound

  1. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  2. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  3. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  4. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  5. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  6. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  7. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  8. He works in a ________________ mill.
  9. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  10. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  11. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  12. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  13. Did you ________________ the meat?
  14. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  15. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  16. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  17. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  18. She's very handy with a ________________.
  19. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  20. False peace will not ________________.
  21. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  22. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  23. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  24. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.

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

Answer key

  1. staff — employees
  2. track — a path
  3. track — a song
  4. capital — money
  5. wound — an injury
  6. drill — army training
  7. season — of the year
  8. saw — the tool
  9. season — in sport
  10. capital — a city
  11. staff — employees
  12. last — final
  13. season — to add flavour
  14. wound — an injury
  15. drill — a practice
  16. track — to keep track
  17. staff — a stick
  18. saw — the tool
  19. wound — past of 'wind'
  20. last — to go on
  21. capital — a big letter
  22. last — finally
  23. drill — the tool
  24. saw — past of 'see'

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