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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. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  2. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  3. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  4. Don't do anything ________________.
  5. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  6. That was a fun ________________.
  7. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  8. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  9. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  10. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  11. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  12. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  13. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  14. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  15. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  16. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  17. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  18. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  19. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  20. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  21. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  22. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  23. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  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. cue — for pool
  2. rash — on the skin
  3. cue — a hint
  4. rash — hasty
  5. capital — a city
  6. game — a match
  7. fall — to drop
  8. game — wild animals
  9. rash — a series
  10. fall — to drop
  11. row — a line
  12. fall — the season
  13. drill — army training
  14. drill — the tool
  15. drill — a practice
  16. clip — for paper
  17. clip — to cut
  18. capital — money
  19. cue — a signal
  20. capital — a big letter
  21. game — a kind of play
  22. clip — a video
  23. row — a quarrel
  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