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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 120 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. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  2. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  3. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  4. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  5. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  6. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  7. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  8. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  9. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  10. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  11. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  12. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  13. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  14. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  15. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  16. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  17. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  18. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  19. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  20. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  21. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  22. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  23. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  24. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — to tease
  2. perch — the fish
  3. snap — to snap out of it
  4. perch — for a bird
  5. capital — a big letter
  6. kid — child
  7. perch — for a bird
  8. mine — for digging
  9. capital — a city
  10. mine — belonging to me
  11. race — humankind
  12. cap — a hat
  13. cap — a lid
  14. pitch — completely
  15. pitch — a sports field
  16. snap — to click
  17. race — the arms race
  18. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  19. pitch — a sales talk
  20. mine — an explosive
  21. cap — of ice
  22. race — a contest
  23. capital — money
  24. snap — to speak sharply

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