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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. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  2. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  3. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  4. The ________________ went through the wall.
  5. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  6. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  7. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  8. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  9. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  10. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  11. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  12. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  13. False peace will not ________________.
  14. The ball is in your ________________.
  15. David sat on the ________________.
  16. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  17. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  18. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  19. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  20. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  21. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  22. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  23. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  24. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — to tease
  2. swing — in golf
  3. track — to keep track
  4. nail — for a hammer
  5. capital — a big letter
  6. bark — of a tree
  7. track — a path
  8. last — final
  9. bark — a dog's sound
  10. nail — for a hammer
  11. capital — a city
  12. nail — on a finger
  13. last — to go on
  14. court — for sport
  15. swing — to play on
  16. court — of law
  17. kid — child
  18. court — of a king
  19. capital — money
  20. bark — to shout
  21. swing — music
  22. track — a song
  23. last — finally
  24. kid — young goat (kid gloves)

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