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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 116 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: tear · sharp · cold · saw · capital · court · march · bank

  1. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  2. I'm going to the ________________ to withdraw money.
  3. He works in a ________________ mill.
  4. This ________________ always watches out for its own interests.
  5. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  6. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  7. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  8. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  9. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  10. The ball is in your ________________.
  11. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  12. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  13. Tiny blossoms have come out all over the river ________________.
  14. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  15. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  16. The water is too ________________.
  17. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  18. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  19. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  20. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  21. She's very handy with a ________________.
  22. It's one o'clock ________________.
  23. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  24. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — a city
  2. bank — for money
  3. saw — the tool
  4. bank — for money
  5. cold — an illness
  6. capital — money
  7. court — of law
  8. sharp — clever
  9. tear — from crying
  10. court — for sport
  11. saw — past of 'see'
  12. tear — from crying
  13. bank — of a river
  14. court — of a king
  15. sharp — with an edge
  16. cold — not warm
  17. capital — a big letter
  18. tear — to rip
  19. cold — the Cold War
  20. march — music
  21. saw — the tool
  22. sharp — exactly
  23. march — the month
  24. march — the month

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