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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. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  2. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  3. He was locked up in a ________________.
  4. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  5. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  6. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  7. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  8. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  9. The water is too ________________.
  10. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  11. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  12. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  13. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  14. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  15. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  16. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  17. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  18. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  19. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  20. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  21. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  22. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  23. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  24. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — a big letter
  2. cold — an illness
  3. cell — in a prison
  4. club — for dancing
  5. capital — money
  6. wind — moving air
  7. bore — to tire
  8. bore — gave birth
  9. cold — not warm
  10. wind — to turn a key
  11. club — a group
  12. bore — to drill
  13. cell — a phone
  14. snap — to click
  15. snap — to speak sharply
  16. snap — to snap out of it
  17. bowl — to roll
  18. club — for golf
  19. wind — moving air
  20. bowl — a dish
  21. capital — a city
  22. bowl — a football final
  23. cell — in biology
  24. cold — the Cold War

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