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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. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  2. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  3. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  4. The water is too ________________.
  5. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  6. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  7. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  8. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  9. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  10. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  11. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  12. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  13. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  14. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  15. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  16. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  17. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  18. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  19. Have you met the new head ________________?
  20. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  21. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  22. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  23. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  24. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.

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

Answer key

  1. drill — the tool
  2. capital — a city
  3. bat — the animal
  4. cold — not warm
  5. drill — a practice
  6. coach — pulled by horses
  7. pass — to spend time
  8. capital — a big letter
  9. bowl — a dish
  10. bowl — a football final
  11. bowl — to roll
  12. cold — an illness
  13. capital — money
  14. coach — a trainer
  15. cold — the Cold War
  16. drill — army training
  17. pass — a permit
  18. bat — in an idiom
  19. coach — a trainer
  20. scale — size or range
  21. scale — in music
  22. bat — for baseball
  23. scale — for weighing
  24. pass — to succeed

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