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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. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  2. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  3. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  4. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  5. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  6. My father caught me by the ________________.
  7. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  8. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  9. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  10. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  11. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  12. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  13. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  14. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  15. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  16. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  17. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  18. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  19. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  20. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  21. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  22. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  23. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  24. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.

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

Answer key

  1. hand — help
  2. capital — money
  3. capital — a big letter
  4. wound — an injury
  5. chair — a professorship
  6. arm — part of the body
  7. patient — calm and waiting
  8. hand — part of the body
  9. root — the cause
  10. hand — in cards
  11. capital — a city
  12. chair — a leader
  13. drill — the tool
  14. arm — a part of something
  15. arm — part of the body
  16. root — of a word
  17. wound — past of 'wind'
  18. chair — to sit on
  19. drill — a practice
  20. root — of a plant
  21. drill — army training
  22. wound — an injury
  23. patient — a sick person
  24. patient — a sick person

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