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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's very handy with a ________________.
  2. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  3. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  4. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  5. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  6. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  7. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  8. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  9. The King held a masked ________________.
  10. Have you met the new head ________________?
  11. He works in a ________________ mill.
  12. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  13. The water is too ________________.
  14. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  15. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  16. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  17. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  18. That was a fun ________________.
  19. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  20. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  21. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  22. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  23. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  24. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.

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

Answer key

  1. saw — the tool
  2. game — a kind of play
  3. ball — a great time
  4. capital — a big letter
  5. game — wild animals
  6. staff — employees
  7. staff — a stick
  8. capital — money
  9. ball — a dance
  10. coach — a trainer
  11. saw — the tool
  12. cold — an illness
  13. cold — not warm
  14. capital — a city
  15. ball — a round shape
  16. staff — employees
  17. dip — to sink
  18. game — a match
  19. coach — a trainer
  20. coach — pulled by horses
  21. saw — past of 'see'
  22. dip — to dunk
  23. cold — the Cold War
  24. dip — a sauce

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