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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 in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  2. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  3. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  4. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  5. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  6. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  7. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  8. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  9. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  10. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  11. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  12. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  13. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  14. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  15. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  16. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  17. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  18. False peace will not ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. last — final
  2. capital — a big letter
  3. pitch — completely
  4. hide — to keep secret
  5. capital — money
  6. squash — to crush
  7. pitch — a sports field
  8. squash — the sport
  9. bat — the animal
  10. bat — for baseball
  11. bat — in an idiom
  12. hide — animal skin
  13. pitch — a sales talk
  14. hide — to keep secret
  15. capital — a city
  16. squash — the vegetable
  17. last — finally
  18. last — to go on

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