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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 rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  2. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  3. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  4. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  5. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  6. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  7. The King held a masked ________________.
  8. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  9. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  10. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  11. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  12. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  13. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  14. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  15. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  16. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  17. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  18. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  19. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  20. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  21. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  22. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  23. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  24. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.

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

Answer key

  1. club — for golf
  2. snap — to speak sharply
  3. cap — a hat
  4. cap — a lid
  5. mine — for digging
  6. capital — a big letter
  7. ball — a dance
  8. wax — for sculpting
  9. wax — in the ear
  10. club — for dancing
  11. cap — of ice
  12. capital — a city
  13. branch — a division
  14. snap — to click
  15. wax — to grow
  16. branch — of a tree
  17. capital — money
  18. branch — of a bank
  19. ball — a round shape
  20. club — a group
  21. mine — belonging to me
  22. snap — to snap out of it
  23. mine — an explosive
  24. ball — a great time

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