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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. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  2. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  3. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  4. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  5. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  6. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  7. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  8. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  9. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  10. Don't do anything ________________.
  11. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  12. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  13. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  14. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  15. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  16. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  17. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  18. False peace will not ________________.
  19. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  20. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  21. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  22. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  23. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  24. We had a fire ________________ at school today.

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

Answer key

  1. drill — the tool
  2. capital — a big letter
  3. last — final
  4. deal — an agreement
  5. squash — the sport
  6. file — a document
  7. file — a tool
  8. rash — a series
  9. present — a gift
  10. rash — hasty
  11. capital — a city
  12. file — a line of people
  13. rash — on the skin
  14. capital — money
  15. deal — to handle
  16. drill — army training
  17. present — there
  18. last — to go on
  19. squash — to crush
  20. last — finally
  21. present — the time now
  22. squash — the vegetable
  23. deal — a big deal
  24. drill — a practice

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