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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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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. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  2. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  3. I'll be taking the ________________.
  4. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  5. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  6. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  7. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  8. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  9. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  10. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  11. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  12. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  13. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  14. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  15. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  16. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  17. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  18. 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. march — music
  2. hand — help
  3. tube — the underground
  4. march — the month
  5. kick — a thrill
  6. tube — in a tire
  7. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  8. hand — part of the body
  9. kid — child
  10. kick — in football
  11. hand — in cards
  12. capital — a big letter
  13. kick — with a leg
  14. kid — to tease
  15. capital — a city
  16. capital — money
  17. tube — a container
  18. 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