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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 beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  2. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  3. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  4. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  5. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  6. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  7. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  8. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  9. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  10. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  11. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  12. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  13. That was a fun ________________.
  14. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  15. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  16. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  17. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  18. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  19. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  20. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  21. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  22. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  23. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  24. Let us try to swim against the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — a big letter
  2. wound — an injury
  3. hand — help
  4. hand — in cards
  5. dip — to dunk
  6. pound — to hit hard
  7. kick — a thrill
  8. pound — for dogs
  9. dip — a sauce
  10. game — a kind of play
  11. current — electric
  12. game — wild animals
  13. game — a match
  14. current — happening now
  15. dip — to sink
  16. capital — money
  17. wound — past of 'wind'
  18. hand — part of the body
  19. kick — with a leg
  20. capital — a city
  21. wound — an injury
  22. kick — in football
  23. pound — a weight
  24. current — of water

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