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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 pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  2. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  3. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  4. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  5. That was a fun ________________.
  6. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  7. The ball is in your ________________.
  8. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  9. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  10. The water is too ________________.
  11. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  12. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  13. Don't do anything ________________.
  14. The ________________ went through the wall.
  15. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  16. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  17. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  18. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  19. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  20. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  21. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  22. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  23. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  24. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.

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

Answer key

  1. game — wild animals
  2. cold — the Cold War
  3. row — a line
  4. racket — for tennis
  5. game — a match
  6. rash — a series
  7. court — for sport
  8. game — a kind of play
  9. nail — on a finger
  10. cold — not warm
  11. capital — a city
  12. nail — for a hammer
  13. rash — hasty
  14. nail — for a hammer
  15. row — a quarrel
  16. capital — a big letter
  17. capital — money
  18. racket — for tennis
  19. racket — a loud noise
  20. cold — an illness
  21. court — of law
  22. rash — on the skin
  23. court — of a king
  24. row — to paddle

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