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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 120 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. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  2. Did you ________________ the meat?
  3. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  4. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  5. The tickets are free of ________________.
  6. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  7. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  8. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  9. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  10. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  11. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  12. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  13. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  14. She's very handy with a ________________.
  15. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  16. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  17. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  18. He works in a ________________ mill.
  19. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  20. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  21. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  22. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  23. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  24. I got dealt a bad ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. season — of the year
  2. season — to add flavour
  3. capital — a big letter
  4. capital — money
  5. charge — a price
  6. squash — the sport
  7. saw — past of 'see'
  8. chest — of your body
  9. hand — part of the body
  10. trunk — of a car
  11. chest — of your body
  12. hand — help
  13. charge — in control
  14. saw — the tool
  15. trunk — of an elephant
  16. season — in sport
  17. squash — to crush
  18. saw — the tool
  19. trunk — of a tree
  20. squash — the vegetable
  21. charge — electricity
  22. chest — a box
  23. capital — a city
  24. hand — in cards

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