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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. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  2. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  3. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  4. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  5. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  6. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  7. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  8. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  9. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  10. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  11. The water is too ________________.
  12. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  13. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  14. We're almost out of ________________.
  15. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  16. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  17. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  18. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  19. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  20. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  21. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  22. You don't need to ________________ round.
  23. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  24. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — a big letter
  2. track — to keep track
  3. bass — low music
  4. bat — for baseball
  5. cold — the Cold War
  6. capital — money
  7. bat — the animal
  8. bass — the instrument
  9. track — a song
  10. track — a path
  11. cold — not warm
  12. pitch — a sports field
  13. pop — music
  14. pop — soda
  15. rule — to rule out
  16. rule — a law
  17. bass — the fish
  18. bat — in an idiom
  19. rule — government
  20. capital — a city
  21. cold — an illness
  22. pop — to visit
  23. pitch — completely
  24. pitch — a sales talk

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