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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. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  2. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  3. False peace will not ________________.
  4. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  5. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  6. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  7. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  8. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  9. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  10. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  11. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  12. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  13. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  14. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  15. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  16. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  17. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  18. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  19. That was a fun ________________.
  20. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  21. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  22. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  23. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  24. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. mine — belonging to me
  2. bowl — to roll
  3. last — to go on
  4. capital — a city
  5. capital — a big letter
  6. calf — a young animal
  7. root — of a plant
  8. tear — to rip
  9. tear — from crying
  10. game — a kind of play
  11. root — the cause
  12. mine — for digging
  13. calf — a young animal
  14. bowl — a dish
  15. root — of a word
  16. game — wild animals
  17. calf — of the leg
  18. mine — an explosive
  19. game — a match
  20. bowl — a football final
  21. last — final
  22. last — finally
  23. tear — from crying
  24. capital — money

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