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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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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: bat · bay · scale · tear · file · capital · land · cap

  1. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  2. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  3. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  4. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  5. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  6. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  7. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  8. The sailing ship dropped anchor in the ________________.
  9. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  10. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  11. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  12. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  13. Close the lid of the trash can to keep odors and pests at ________________.
  14. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  15. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  16. My mare is ________________ in color.
  17. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  18. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  19. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  20. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  21. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  22. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  23. When are we going to ________________?
  24. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.

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

Answer key

  1. bat — for baseball
  2. tear — from crying
  3. capital — a city
  4. scale — in music
  5. land — ground
  6. tear — to rip
  7. file — a line of people
  8. bay — a part of the sea
  9. file — a tool
  10. file — a document
  11. cap — of ice
  12. cap — a lid
  13. bay — to keep at bay
  14. tear — from crying
  15. cap — a hat
  16. bay — a horse colour
  17. land — a country
  18. bat — the animal
  19. scale — size or range
  20. capital — money
  21. bat — in an idiom
  22. capital — a big letter
  23. land — to come down
  24. scale — for weighing

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