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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. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  2. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  3. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  4. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  5. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  6. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  7. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  8. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  9. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  10. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  11. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  12. The bus was late because of the traffic ________________.
  13. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  14. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  15. The ________________ took off on time.
  16. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  17. Would you like some apricot ________________?
  18. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  19. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  20. It's one o'clock ________________.
  21. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  22. Tom got himself in a ________________.
  23. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  24. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — money
  2. wound — an injury
  3. wound — an injury
  4. chip — for betting
  5. capital — a big letter
  6. chest — of your body
  7. sharp — with an edge
  8. kid — to tease
  9. kid — child
  10. chest — a box
  11. sharp — clever
  12. jam — in traffic
  13. plane — a tool
  14. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  15. plane — an aircraft
  16. chest — of your body
  17. jam — to spread on bread
  18. chip — in a computer
  19. capital — a city
  20. sharp — exactly
  21. chip — to eat
  22. jam — a tight spot
  23. wound — past of 'wind'
  24. plane — in geometry

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