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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 beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  2. He is an ace ________________.
  3. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  4. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  5. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  6. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  7. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  8. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  9. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  10. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  11. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  12. My father caught me by the ________________.
  13. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  14. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  15. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  16. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  17. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  18. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  19. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  20. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  21. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  22. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  23. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  24. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — a big letter
  2. pitcher — in baseball
  3. kid — child
  4. mine — an explosive
  5. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  6. branch — of a tree
  7. snap — to snap out of it
  8. arm — a part of something
  9. capital — a city
  10. branch — of a bank
  11. branch — a division
  12. arm — part of the body
  13. capital — money
  14. pitcher — a jug
  15. kid — to tease
  16. snap — to speak sharply
  17. snap — to click
  18. arm — part of the body
  19. race — the arms race
  20. race — a contest
  21. mine — belonging to me
  22. race — humankind
  23. mine — for digging
  24. pitcher — a jug

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