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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. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  2. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  3. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  4. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  5. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  6. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  7. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  8. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  9. Did you ________________ the meat?
  10. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  11. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  12. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  13. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  14. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  15. What do you think of the new ________________?
  16. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  17. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  18. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  19. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  20. The ________________ took off on time.
  21. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  22. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  23. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  24. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. season — of the year
  2. snap — to click
  3. capital — money
  4. cabinet — ministers
  5. season — in sport
  6. plane — in geometry
  7. plane — a tool
  8. kid — child
  9. season — to add flavour
  10. march — the month
  11. march — music
  12. race — a contest
  13. kid — to tease
  14. cabinet — a cupboard
  15. cabinet — ministers
  16. capital — a city
  17. snap — to snap out of it
  18. race — the arms race
  19. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  20. plane — an aircraft
  21. capital — a big letter
  22. race — humankind
  23. snap — to speak sharply
  24. march — the month

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