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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. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  2. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  3. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  4. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  5. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  6. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  7. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  8. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  9. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  10. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  11. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  12. My father caught me by the ________________.
  13. David sat on the ________________.
  14. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  15. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  16. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  17. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  18. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  19. How do you ________________ your surname?
  20. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  21. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  22. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  23. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  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. spell — a short time
  2. bat — the animal
  3. mine — an explosive
  4. capital — a city
  5. capital — a big letter
  6. bat — for baseball
  7. swing — in golf
  8. arm — a part of something
  9. bark — of a tree
  10. kick — a thrill
  11. kick — with a leg
  12. arm — part of the body
  13. swing — to play on
  14. spell — magic
  15. swing — music
  16. mine — for digging
  17. bark — to shout
  18. bat — in an idiom
  19. spell — letters
  20. kick — in football
  21. bark — a dog's sound
  22. arm — part of the body
  23. mine — belonging to me
  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