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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. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  2. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  3. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  4. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  5. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  6. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  7. You don't need to ________________ round.
  8. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  9. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  10. Have you settled on a ________________?
  11. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  12. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  13. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  14. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  15. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  16. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  17. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  18. We're almost out of ________________.
  19. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  20. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  21. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  22. The ________________ took off on time.
  23. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  24. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — a big letter
  2. kid — to tease
  3. lash — to lash out
  4. capital — a city
  5. leaves — of a tree
  6. lash — a whip stroke
  7. pop — to visit
  8. plane — in geometry
  9. pop — music
  10. date — on the calendar
  11. date — on the calendar
  12. lash — an eyelash
  13. capital — money
  14. kid — child
  15. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  16. leaves — to go away
  17. shower — to wash
  18. pop — soda
  19. plane — a tool
  20. leaves — lets stay
  21. shower — rain
  22. plane — an aircraft
  23. date — the fruit
  24. shower — a meteor shower

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