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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. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  2. That was a fun ________________.
  3. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  4. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  5. When are we going to ________________?
  6. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  7. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  8. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  9. The ________________ market has crashed.
  10. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  11. How do you ________________ your surname?
  12. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  13. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  14. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  15. David sat on the ________________.
  16. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  17. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  18. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  19. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  20. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  21. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  22. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  23. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  24. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — a big letter
  2. game — a match
  3. spell — magic
  4. snap — to snap out of it
  5. land — to come down
  6. game — wild animals
  7. snap — to speak sharply
  8. land — ground
  9. stock — shares
  10. rule — government
  11. spell — letters
  12. stock — a soup base
  13. swing — in golf
  14. spell — a short time
  15. swing — to play on
  16. snap — to click
  17. stock — goods
  18. game — a kind of play
  19. capital — a city
  20. capital — money
  21. land — a country
  22. rule — to rule out
  23. rule — a law
  24. swing — music

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