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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. My father caught me by the ________________.
  2. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  3. When are we going to ________________?
  4. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  5. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  6. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  7. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  8. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  9. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  10. Have you settled on a ________________?
  11. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  12. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  13. Have you found your soul ________________?
  14. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  15. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  16. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  17. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  18. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  19. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  20. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  21. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  22. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  23. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  24. We had a fire ________________ at school today.

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

Answer key

  1. arm — part of the body
  2. drill — the tool
  3. land — to come down
  4. mate — to breed
  5. capital — a city
  6. date — on the calendar
  7. bass — low music
  8. arm — part of the body
  9. arm — a part of something
  10. date — on the calendar
  11. land — ground
  12. bass — the instrument
  13. mate — a partner
  14. bass — the fish
  15. shower — rain
  16. shower — to wash
  17. date — the fruit
  18. capital — money
  19. mate — a friend
  20. shower — a meteor shower
  21. drill — army training
  22. land — a country
  23. capital — a big letter
  24. drill — a practice

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