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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. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  2. The King held a masked ________________.
  3. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  4. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  5. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  6. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  7. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  8. The water is too ________________.
  9. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  10. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  11. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  12. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  13. The ball is in your ________________.
  14. The tickets are free of ________________.
  15. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  16. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  17. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  18. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  19. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  20. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  21. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  22. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  23. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  24. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.

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

Answer key

  1. lash — to lash out
  2. ball — a dance
  3. ball — a round shape
  4. object — an aim
  5. cold — an illness
  6. capital — money
  7. charge — in control
  8. cold — not warm
  9. charge — electricity
  10. lash — a whip stroke
  11. lash — an eyelash
  12. capital — a big letter
  13. court — for sport
  14. charge — a price
  15. cold — the Cold War
  16. object — to protest
  17. ball — a great time
  18. capital — a city
  19. court — of law
  20. kid — to tease
  21. object — a thing
  22. kid — child
  23. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  24. court — of a king

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