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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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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 ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  2. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  3. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  4. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  5. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  6. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  7. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  8. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  9. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  10. He was locked up in a ________________.
  11. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  12. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  13. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  14. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  15. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  16. The King held a masked ________________.
  17. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  18. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!

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

Answer key

  1. bat — for baseball
  2. cell — in biology
  3. capital — a big letter
  4. fan — a supporter
  5. trunk — of a car
  6. fan — a supporter
  7. ball — a great time
  8. fan — to cool the air
  9. capital — money
  10. cell — in a prison
  11. capital — a city
  12. trunk — of a tree
  13. trunk — of an elephant
  14. ball — a round shape
  15. bat — in an idiom
  16. ball — a dance
  17. bat — the animal
  18. cell — a phone

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