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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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468
Word bank
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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. That was a fun ________________.
  2. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  3. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  4. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  5. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  6. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  7. I've got to change the light ________________.
  8. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  9. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  10. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  11. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  12. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  13. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  14. The light ________________ burned out.
  15. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  16. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  17. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  18. Have you found your soul ________________?
  19. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  20. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  21. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  22. We're on a ________________ here.
  23. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  24. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?

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

Answer key

  1. game — a match
  2. kid — to tease
  3. capital — a big letter
  4. bulb — of a plant
  5. field — farmland
  6. wind — moving air
  7. bulb — for light
  8. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  9. game — wild animals
  10. game — a kind of play
  11. capital — a city
  12. field — a subject
  13. kid — child
  14. bulb — for light
  15. wind — moving air
  16. roll — a list
  17. field — for sport
  18. mate — a partner
  19. mate — to breed
  20. wind — to turn a key
  21. roll — a cake
  22. roll — on a roll
  23. capital — money
  24. mate — a friend

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