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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. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  2. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  3. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  4. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  5. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  6. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  7. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  8. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  9. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  10. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  11. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  12. We're almost out of ________________.
  13. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  14. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  15. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  16. You don't need to ________________ round.
  17. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  18. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  19. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  20. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  21. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  22. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  23. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  24. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cue — for pool
  2. cue — a hint
  3. capital — a city
  4. march — the month
  5. kid — to tease
  6. file — a document
  7. scale — in music
  8. kid — child
  9. capital — money
  10. capital — a big letter
  11. hand — help
  12. pop — soda
  13. hand — part of the body
  14. hand — in cards
  15. scale — for weighing
  16. pop — to visit
  17. file — a line of people
  18. pop — music
  19. cue — a signal
  20. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  21. march — music
  22. march — the month
  23. scale — size or range
  24. file — a 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