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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 120 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. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  2. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  3. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  4. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  5. He was locked up in a ________________.
  6. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  7. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  8. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  9. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  10. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  11. When was this ________________ built?
  12. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  13. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  14. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  15. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  16. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  17. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  18. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  19. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  20. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  21. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  22. David sat on the ________________.
  23. The water is too ________________.
  24. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. staff — employees
  2. bore — to tire
  3. scale — in music
  4. swing — in golf
  5. cell — in a prison
  6. cold — the Cold War
  7. temple — a place of worship
  8. temple — side of the head
  9. scale — for weighing
  10. bore — to drill
  11. temple — a place of worship
  12. bore — gave birth
  13. staff — a stick
  14. capital — a big letter
  15. capital — a city
  16. staff — employees
  17. scale — size or range
  18. swing — music
  19. cell — a phone
  20. cell — in biology
  21. cold — an illness
  22. swing — to play on
  23. cold — not warm
  24. capital — money

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