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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 120 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 sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  2. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  3. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  4. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  5. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  6. He was locked up in a ________________.
  7. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  8. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  9. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  10. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  11. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  12. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  13. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  14. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  15. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  16. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  17. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  18. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  19. Have you met the new head ________________?
  20. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  21. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  22. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  23. How do you ________________ your surname?
  24. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.

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

Answer key

  1. wind — to turn a key
  2. racket — for tennis
  3. coach — pulled by horses
  4. march — the month
  5. racket — a loud noise
  6. cell — in a prison
  7. march — music
  8. spell — magic
  9. hand — help
  10. capital — a big letter
  11. hand — in cards
  12. cell — a phone
  13. march — the month
  14. wind — moving air
  15. racket — for tennis
  16. hand — part of the body
  17. capital — money
  18. spell — a short time
  19. coach — a trainer
  20. coach — a trainer
  21. capital — a city
  22. cell — in biology
  23. spell — letters
  24. wind — moving air

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