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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. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  2. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  3. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  4. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  5. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  6. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  7. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  8. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  9. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  10. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  11. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  12. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  13. Have you met the new head ________________?
  14. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  15. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  16. How do you ________________ your surname?
  17. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  18. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  19. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  20. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  21. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  22. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  23. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  24. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — a city
  2. kid — child
  3. rock — music
  4. fall — to drop
  5. row — to paddle
  6. spell — magic
  7. hand — part of the body
  8. row — a quarrel
  9. capital — money
  10. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  11. hand — help
  12. fall — the season
  13. coach — a trainer
  14. row — a line
  15. spell — a short time
  16. spell — letters
  17. hand — in cards
  18. rock — to move gently
  19. capital — a big letter
  20. rock — a stone
  21. fall — to drop
  22. coach — a trainer
  23. coach — pulled by horses
  24. kid — to tease

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