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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. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  2. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  3. Did you ________________ the meat?
  4. There's no middle ________________.
  5. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  6. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  7. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  8. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  9. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  10. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  11. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  12. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  13. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  14. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  15. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  16. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  17. David sat on the ________________.
  18. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  19. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  20. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  21. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  22. When are we going to ________________?
  23. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  24. Spring is a pleasant ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — money
  2. capital — a big letter
  3. season — to add flavour
  4. ground — a position
  5. hand — in cards
  6. land — ground
  7. land — a country
  8. racket — for tennis
  9. ground — the earth
  10. hand — part of the body
  11. racket — a loud noise
  12. season — in sport
  13. bark — of a tree
  14. swing — in golf
  15. bark — to shout
  16. bark — a dog's sound
  17. swing — to play on
  18. ground — crushed
  19. swing — music
  20. racket — for tennis
  21. hand — help
  22. land — to come down
  23. capital — a city
  24. season — of the year

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