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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. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  2. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  3. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  4. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  5. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  6. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  7. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  8. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  9. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  10. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  11. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  12. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  13. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  14. Don't do anything ________________.
  15. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  16. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  17. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  18. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  19. The King held a masked ________________.
  20. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  21. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  22. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  23. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  24. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.

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

Answer key

  1. mine — an explosive
  2. patient — calm and waiting
  3. mine — for digging
  4. bat — in an idiom
  5. rash — on the skin
  6. dip — to dunk
  7. drill — a practice
  8. capital — a city
  9. patient — a sick person
  10. capital — a big letter
  11. ball — a round shape
  12. bat — the animal
  13. ball — a great time
  14. rash — hasty
  15. bat — for baseball
  16. patient — a sick person
  17. dip — a sauce
  18. dip — to sink
  19. ball — a dance
  20. drill — the tool
  21. mine — belonging to me
  22. capital — money
  23. drill — army training
  24. rash — a series

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