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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. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  2. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  3. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  4. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  5. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  6. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  7. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  8. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  9. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  10. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  11. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  12. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  13. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  14. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  15. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  16. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  17. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  18. This piece is in a major ________________.
  19. That must've been a ________________.
  20. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  21. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  22. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  23. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  24. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — a city
  2. rush — to hurry
  3. track — to keep track
  4. bat — in an idiom
  5. rush — hurry
  6. bat — for baseball
  7. track — a path
  8. chest — of your body
  9. bat — the animal
  10. chest — a box
  11. track — a song
  12. kid — to tease
  13. tear — to rip
  14. capital — money
  15. key — for a lock
  16. tear — from crying
  17. tear — from crying
  18. key — in music
  19. rush — a thrill
  20. key — the most important part
  21. kid — child
  22. chest — of your body
  23. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  24. capital — a big letter

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