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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. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  2. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  3. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  4. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  5. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  6. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  7. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  8. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  9. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  10. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  11. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  12. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  13. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  14. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  15. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  16. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  17. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  18. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  19. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  20. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  21. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  22. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  23. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  24. There's no middle ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. object — an aim
  2. object — a thing
  3. bat — for baseball
  4. cap — a lid
  5. capital — a city
  6. object — to protest
  7. bark — a dog's sound
  8. bat — in an idiom
  9. wound — an injury
  10. bark — of a tree
  11. wound — an injury
  12. cap — a hat
  13. cap — of ice
  14. bark — to shout
  15. straw — to clutch at straws
  16. straw — a straw man
  17. ground — crushed
  18. wound — past of 'wind'
  19. ground — the earth
  20. capital — a big letter
  21. capital — money
  22. bat — the animal
  23. straw — dry grass
  24. ground — a position

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