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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. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  2. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  3. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  4. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  5. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  6. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  7. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  8. There's no middle ________________.
  9. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  10. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  11. The ________________ went through the wall.
  12. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  13. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  14. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  15. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  16. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  17. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  18. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  19. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  20. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  21. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  22. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  23. False peace will not ________________.
  24. I play ________________ in a jazz band.

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

Answer key

  1. last — final
  2. kid — to tease
  3. kid — child
  4. mine — an explosive
  5. nail — on a finger
  6. row — to paddle
  7. ground — the earth
  8. ground — a position
  9. ground — crushed
  10. mine — belonging to me
  11. nail — for a hammer
  12. row — a line
  13. last — finally
  14. row — a quarrel
  15. capital — money
  16. nail — for a hammer
  17. capital — a big letter
  18. bass — the fish
  19. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  20. bass — low music
  21. mine — for digging
  22. capital — a city
  23. last — to go on
  24. bass — the instrument

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

Make a worksheet (0 words)

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