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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. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  2. The ________________ went through the wall.
  3. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  4. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  5. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  6. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  7. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  8. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  9. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  10. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  11. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  12. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  13. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  14. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  15. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  16. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  17. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  18. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  19. The water is too ________________.
  20. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  21. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  22. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  23. The ball is in your ________________.
  24. David sat on the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bat — for baseball
  2. nail — for a hammer
  3. bat — in an idiom
  4. capital — a city
  5. wound — an injury
  6. swing — music
  7. court — of law
  8. pitch — a sports field
  9. pitch — completely
  10. court — of a king
  11. wound — an injury
  12. capital — a big letter
  13. nail — for a hammer
  14. nail — on a finger
  15. cold — the Cold War
  16. swing — in golf
  17. capital — money
  18. cold — an illness
  19. cold — not warm
  20. wound — past of 'wind'
  21. pitch — a sales talk
  22. bat — the animal
  23. court — for sport
  24. swing — to play on

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