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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. The cuffs of his ________________ jacket are badly frayed.
  3. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  4. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  5. That was a fun ________________.
  6. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  7. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  8. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  9. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  10. When will it ________________ you to start?
  11. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  12. Positive actions can inspire others to follow ________________.
  13. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  14. He was locked up in a ________________.
  15. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  16. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  17. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  18. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  19. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  20. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  21. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  22. The water is too ________________.
  23. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  24. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — money
  2. suit — clothes
  3. bark — a dog's sound
  4. capital — a city
  5. game — a match
  6. game — wild animals
  7. cold — the Cold War
  8. chip — to eat
  9. cell — a phone
  10. suit — to fit
  11. bat — for baseball
  12. suit — in cards
  13. bark — of a tree
  14. cell — in a prison
  15. capital — a big letter
  16. bark — to shout
  17. chip — for betting
  18. bat — the animal
  19. cold — an illness
  20. chip — in a computer
  21. bat — in an idiom
  22. cold — not warm
  23. cell — in biology
  24. game — a kind of play

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