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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. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  2. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  3. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  4. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  5. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  6. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  7. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  8. I'll be taking the ________________.
  9. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  10. The ball is in your ________________.
  11. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  12. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  13. The ________________ went through the wall.
  14. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  15. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  16. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  17. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  18. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  19. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  20. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  21. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  22. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  23. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  24. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?

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

Answer key

  1. hide — animal skin
  2. nail — for a hammer
  3. kid — child
  4. field — for sport
  5. field — a subject
  6. capital — a big letter
  7. kid — to tease
  8. tube — the underground
  9. tube — in a tire
  10. court — for sport
  11. row — a quarrel
  12. capital — a city
  13. nail — for a hammer
  14. capital — money
  15. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  16. court — of a king
  17. field — farmland
  18. hide — to keep secret
  19. court — of law
  20. row — to paddle
  21. nail — on a finger
  22. row — a line
  23. tube — a container
  24. hide — to keep secret

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