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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. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  2. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  3. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  4. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  5. He was locked up in a ________________.
  6. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  7. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  8. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  9. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  10. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  11. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  12. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  13. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  14. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  15. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  16. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  17. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  18. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  19. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  20. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  21. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  22. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  23. There's no middle ________________.
  24. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.

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

Answer key

  1. scale — in music
  2. lie — an untruth
  3. mine — belonging to me
  4. kid — child
  5. cell — in a prison
  6. lie — to recline
  7. capital — a city
  8. scale — for weighing
  9. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  10. scale — size or range
  11. ground — crushed
  12. ground — the earth
  13. cell — a phone
  14. drill — army training
  15. capital — money
  16. cell — in biology
  17. mine — an explosive
  18. drill — the tool
  19. mine — for digging
  20. capital — a big letter
  21. drill — a practice
  22. kid — to tease
  23. ground — a position
  24. lie — an untruth

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