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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. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  2. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  3. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  4. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  5. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  6. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  7. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  8. He is an ace ________________.
  9. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  10. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  11. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  12. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  13. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  14. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  15. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  16. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  17. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  18. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  19. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  20. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  21. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  22. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  23. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  24. She had a strange look on her ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. pitcher — a jug
  2. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  3. squash — to crush
  4. capital — a city
  5. kid — child
  6. pitcher — a jug
  7. lie — to recline
  8. pitcher — in baseball
  9. kid — to tease
  10. squash — the vegetable
  11. net — in sport
  12. lie — an untruth
  13. face — to confront
  14. spring — a coil
  15. net — for catching
  16. squash — the sport
  17. face — to point toward
  18. capital — money
  19. lie — an untruth
  20. capital — a big letter
  21. spring — of water
  22. spring — the season
  23. net — after costs
  24. face — part of the head

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