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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. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  2. Did you ________________ the meat?
  3. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  4. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  5. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  6. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  7. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  8. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  9. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  10. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  11. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  12. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  13. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  14. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  15. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  16. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  17. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  18. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  19. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  20. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  21. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  22. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  23. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  24. Recycle the empty soda ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — to tease
  2. season — to add flavour
  3. capital — money
  4. pitch — a sales talk
  5. band — a music group
  6. season — in sport
  7. current — of water
  8. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  9. capital — a city
  10. pitch — completely
  11. fork — in a road
  12. kid — child
  13. pitch — a sports field
  14. capital — a big letter
  15. can — to be able to
  16. can — a tin
  17. band — a rubber band
  18. fork — to eat with
  19. band — a ring
  20. current — happening now
  21. season — of the year
  22. current — electric
  23. fork — a garden tool
  24. can — a tin

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