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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. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  2. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  3. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  4. That was a fun ________________.
  5. Have you settled on a ________________?
  6. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  7. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  8. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  9. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  10. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  11. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  12. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  13. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  14. That must've been a ________________.
  15. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  16. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  17. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  18. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  19. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  20. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  21. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  22. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  23. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  24. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.

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

Answer key

  1. rush — hurry
  2. squash — the vegetable
  3. game — a kind of play
  4. game — a match
  5. date — on the calendar
  6. capital — a big letter
  7. drill — army training
  8. lean — to rest against
  9. game — wild animals
  10. racket — a loud noise
  11. squash — to crush
  12. racket — for tennis
  13. racket — for tennis
  14. rush — a thrill
  15. lean — thin
  16. capital — money
  17. date — on the calendar
  18. capital — a city
  19. drill — a practice
  20. rush — to hurry
  21. squash — the sport
  22. date — the fruit
  23. lean — to bend
  24. drill — the tool

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