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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. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  2. Where did you ________________ them?
  3. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  4. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  5. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  6. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  7. I'll be taking the ________________.
  8. My father caught me by the ________________.
  9. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  10. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  11. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  12. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  13. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  14. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  15. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  16. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  17. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  18. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  19. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  20. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  21. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  22. False peace will not ________________.
  23. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  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. capital — a city
  2. mug — to rob
  3. tube — in a tire
  4. lean — thin
  5. band — a ring
  6. arm — a part of something
  7. tube — the underground
  8. arm — part of the body
  9. lean — to bend
  10. last — finally
  11. arm — part of the body
  12. mug — a cup
  13. mug — a face
  14. bat — in an idiom
  15. lean — to rest against
  16. band — a rubber band
  17. bat — the animal
  18. tube — a container
  19. bat — for baseball
  20. band — a music group
  21. capital — a big letter
  22. last — to go on
  23. last — final
  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