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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 116 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. She works as an advertiser at a New Jersey ________________.
  2. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  3. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  4. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  5. That was a fun ________________.
  6. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  7. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  8. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  9. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  10. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  11. Nothing provides more peace of mind than a ________________ decision.
  12. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  13. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  14. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  15. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  16. I'll stand ________________ for what I deserve.
  17. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  18. He is an ace ________________.
  19. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  20. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  21. The ________________ took off on time.
  22. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  23. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  24. He was locked up in a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. firm — a company
  2. capital — a big letter
  3. pitcher — a jug
  4. game — a kind of play
  5. game — a match
  6. plane — in geometry
  7. pitcher — a jug
  8. plane — a tool
  9. shower — to wash
  10. cell — a phone
  11. firm — decided
  12. snap — to speak sharply
  13. capital — a city
  14. shower — a meteor shower
  15. shower — rain
  16. firm — steady
  17. cell — in biology
  18. pitcher — in baseball
  19. capital — money
  20. snap — to click
  21. plane — an aircraft
  22. game — wild animals
  23. snap — to snap out of it
  24. cell — in a prison

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