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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. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  2. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  3. How do you ________________ your surname?
  4. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  5. You don't need to ________________ round.
  6. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  7. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  8. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  9. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  10. We're almost out of ________________.
  11. We're on a ________________ here.
  12. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  13. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  14. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  15. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  16. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  17. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  18. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  19. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  20. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  21. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  22. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  23. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  24. The King held a masked ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — a city
  2. prune — to trim
  3. spell — letters
  4. spell — a short time
  5. pop — to visit
  6. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  7. ball — a round shape
  8. capital — money
  9. prune — to trim
  10. pop — soda
  11. roll — on a roll
  12. current — of water
  13. roll — a cake
  14. prune — the fruit
  15. ball — a great time
  16. kid — child
  17. current — electric
  18. current — happening now
  19. capital — a big letter
  20. kid — to tease
  21. pop — music
  22. spell — magic
  23. roll — a list
  24. ball — a dance

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