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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 116 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. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  2. That was a fun ________________.
  3. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  4. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  5. I'll be taking the ________________.
  6. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  7. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  8. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  9. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  10. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  11. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  12. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  13. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  14. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  15. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  16. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  17. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  18. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  19. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  20. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  21. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  22. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  23. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  24. Beijing is the ________________ of China.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — a big letter
  2. game — a match
  3. row — a line
  4. patient — calm and waiting
  5. tube — the underground
  6. game — a kind of play
  7. patient — a sick person
  8. tube — a container
  9. bass — the instrument
  10. bass — low music
  11. tear — from crying
  12. tear — from crying
  13. row — to paddle
  14. bass — the fish
  15. snap — to click
  16. snap — to speak sharply
  17. row — a quarrel
  18. tube — in a tire
  19. game — wild animals
  20. patient — a sick person
  21. snap — to snap out of it
  22. capital — money
  23. tear — to rip
  24. capital — a city

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