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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. My father caught me by the ________________.
  2. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  3. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  4. Have you found your soul ________________?
  5. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  6. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  7. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  8. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  9. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  10. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  11. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  12. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  13. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  14. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  15. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  16. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  17. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  18. When are we going to ________________?
  19. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  20. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  21. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  22. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  23. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  24. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.

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

Answer key

  1. arm — part of the body
  2. bowl — a dish
  3. dip — to dunk
  4. mate — a partner
  5. dip — a sauce
  6. capital — a city
  7. track — a path
  8. land — a country
  9. bowl — a football final
  10. bowl — to roll
  11. dip — to sink
  12. capital — a big letter
  13. mine — an explosive
  14. capital — money
  15. mate — a friend
  16. mine — for digging
  17. arm — a part of something
  18. land — to come down
  19. land — ground
  20. arm — part of the body
  21. mine — belonging to me
  22. mate — to breed
  23. track — to keep track
  24. track — a song

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