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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 116 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 goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  2. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  3. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  4. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  5. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  6. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  7. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  8. That was ________________ to happen.
  9. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  10. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  11. Did you ________________ the meat?
  12. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  13. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  14. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  15. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  16. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  17. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  18. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  19. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  20. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  21. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  22. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  23. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  24. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.

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

Answer key

  1. straw — dry grass
  2. capital — money
  3. pitch — a sales talk
  4. capital — a city
  5. kid — to tease
  6. season — in sport
  7. pitch — a sports field
  8. bound — certain
  9. pitch — completely
  10. prune — to trim
  11. season — to add flavour
  12. prune — to trim
  13. straw — a straw man
  14. kid — child
  15. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  16. mine — belonging to me
  17. straw — to clutch at straws
  18. prune — the fruit
  19. mine — for digging
  20. mine — an explosive
  21. capital — a big letter
  22. season — of the year
  23. bound — obliged
  24. bound — tied together

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