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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. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  2. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  3. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  4. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  5. When was this ________________ built?
  6. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  7. When are we going to ________________?
  8. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  9. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  10. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  11. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  12. Have you met the new head ________________?
  13. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  14. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  15. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  16. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  17. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  18. David sat on the ________________.
  19. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  20. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  21. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  22. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  23. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  24. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — a city
  2. land — ground
  3. coach — pulled by horses
  4. chest — of your body
  5. temple — a place of worship
  6. swing — in golf
  7. land — to come down
  8. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  9. bowl — a football final
  10. capital — a big letter
  11. temple — a place of worship
  12. coach — a trainer
  13. chest — of your body
  14. temple — side of the head
  15. coach — a trainer
  16. kid — child
  17. bowl — a dish
  18. swing — to play on
  19. bowl — to roll
  20. chest — a box
  21. land — a country
  22. swing — music
  23. kid — to tease
  24. capital — money

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