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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. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  2. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  3. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  4. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  5. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  6. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  7. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  8. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  9. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  10. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  11. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  12. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  13. I can't ________________ this cold.
  14. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  15. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  16. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  17. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  18. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  19. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  20. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  21. I'll be taking the ________________.
  22. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  23. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  24. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. lash — to lash out
  2. drill — army training
  3. tube — a container
  4. mine — belonging to me
  5. drill — a practice
  6. capital — a big letter
  7. field — a subject
  8. lash — an eyelash
  9. stand — on your feet
  10. mine — an explosive
  11. kick — a thrill
  12. mine — for digging
  13. stand — to bear
  14. capital — money
  15. lash — a whip stroke
  16. drill — the tool
  17. field — farmland
  18. kick — with a leg
  19. field — for sport
  20. kick — in football
  21. tube — the underground
  22. tube — in a tire
  23. capital — a city
  24. stand — for spectators

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