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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. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  2. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  3. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  4. Nothing provides more peace of mind than a ________________ decision.
  5. The water is too ________________.
  6. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  7. David sat on the ________________.
  8. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  9. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  10. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  11. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  12. She works as an advertiser at a New Jersey ________________.
  13. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  14. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  15. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  16. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  17. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  18. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  19. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  20. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  21. When are we going to ________________?
  22. I'll stand ________________ for what I deserve.
  23. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  24. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.

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

Answer key

  1. land — ground
  2. lash — to lash out
  3. patient — a sick person
  4. firm — decided
  5. cold — not warm
  6. capital — a city
  7. swing — to play on
  8. capital — money
  9. swing — music
  10. content — happy
  11. patient — calm and waiting
  12. firm — a company
  13. lash — an eyelash
  14. patient — a sick person
  15. cold — the Cold War
  16. lash — a whip stroke
  17. land — a country
  18. cold — an illness
  19. capital — a big letter
  20. content — videos and posts
  21. land — to come down
  22. firm — steady
  23. content — the amount
  24. swing — in golf

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