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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. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  2. You don't need to ________________ round.
  3. That was a fun ________________.
  4. False peace will not ________________.
  5. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  6. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  7. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  8. What do you think of the new ________________?
  9. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  10. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  11. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  12. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  13. We're almost out of ________________.
  14. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  15. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  16. I'll be taking the ________________.
  17. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  18. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  19. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  20. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  21. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  22. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  23. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  24. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.

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

Answer key

  1. last — finally
  2. pop — to visit
  3. game — a match
  4. last — to go on
  5. last — final
  6. capital — a big letter
  7. kid — to tease
  8. cabinet — ministers
  9. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  10. pop — music
  11. tube — a container
  12. cabinet — a cupboard
  13. pop — soda
  14. capital — money
  15. fork — a garden tool
  16. tube — the underground
  17. cabinet — ministers
  18. capital — a city
  19. game — wild animals
  20. fork — to eat with
  21. tube — in a tire
  22. kid — child
  23. fork — in a road
  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