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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. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  2. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  3. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  4. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  5. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  6. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  7. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  8. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  9. That was a fun ________________.
  10. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  11. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  12. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  13. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  14. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  15. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  16. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  17. There's no middle ________________.
  18. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  19. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  20. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  21. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  22. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  23. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  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. row — a line
  2. straw — a straw man
  3. row — a quarrel
  4. drill — a practice
  5. ground — crushed
  6. capital — a big letter
  7. trunk — of a car
  8. trunk — of an elephant
  9. game — a match
  10. trunk — of a tree
  11. row — to paddle
  12. tear — from crying
  13. straw — dry grass
  14. straw — to clutch at straws
  15. drill — army training
  16. game — wild animals
  17. ground — a position
  18. tear — from crying
  19. drill — the tool
  20. game — a kind of play
  21. capital — a city
  22. ground — the earth
  23. tear — to rip
  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