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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. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  2. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  3. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  4. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  5. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  6. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  7. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  8. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  9. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  10. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  11. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  12. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  13. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  14. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  15. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  16. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  17. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  18. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  19. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  20. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  21. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  22. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  23. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  24. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bowl — to roll
  2. clip — for paper
  3. mine — an explosive
  4. pound — a weight
  5. capital — a big letter
  6. foot — the bottom
  7. capital — money
  8. capital — a city
  9. mine — for digging
  10. patient — a sick person
  11. bowl — a football final
  12. bowl — a dish
  13. hand — help
  14. patient — calm and waiting
  15. clip — to cut
  16. hand — in cards
  17. mine — belonging to me
  18. clip — a video
  19. foot — a measure
  20. hand — part of the body
  21. foot — part of the body
  22. pound — to hit hard
  23. pound — for dogs
  24. patient — a sick person

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