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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 ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  2. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  3. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  4. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  5. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  6. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  7. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  8. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  9. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  10. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  11. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  12. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  13. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  14. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  15. The ________________ went through the wall.
  16. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  17. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  18. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  19. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  20. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  21. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  22. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  23. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  24. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — to tease
  2. nail — for a hammer
  3. straw — dry grass
  4. kid — child
  5. capital — money
  6. racket — a loud noise
  7. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  8. racket — for tennis
  9. nail — on a finger
  10. fall — to drop
  11. rule — a law
  12. rule — to rule out
  13. straw — to clutch at straws
  14. racket — for tennis
  15. nail — for a hammer
  16. fall — to drop
  17. capital — a city
  18. fall — the season
  19. straw — a straw man
  20. drill — army training
  21. drill — the tool
  22. drill — a practice
  23. rule — government
  24. capital — a big letter

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