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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. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  2. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  3. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  4. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  5. The ________________ went through the wall.
  6. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  7. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  8. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  9. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  10. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  11. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  12. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  13. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  14. When are we going to ________________?
  15. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  16. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  17. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  18. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  19. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  20. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  21. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  22. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  23. False peace will not ________________.
  24. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — a big letter
  2. land — ground
  3. kid — to tease
  4. capital — a city
  5. nail — for a hammer
  6. nail — on a finger
  7. lash — to lash out
  8. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  9. last — final
  10. bat — the animal
  11. land — a country
  12. lash — an eyelash
  13. fall — the season
  14. land — to come down
  15. capital — money
  16. lash — a whip stroke
  17. kid — child
  18. last — finally
  19. nail — for a hammer
  20. fall — to drop
  21. bat — for baseball
  22. bat — in an idiom
  23. last — to go on
  24. fall — to drop

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