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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. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  2. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  3. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  4. Nothing provides more peace of mind than a ________________ decision.
  5. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  6. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  7. I'll stand ________________ for what I deserve.
  8. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  9. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  10. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  11. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  12. Did you ________________ the meat?
  13. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  14. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  15. That was a fun ________________.
  16. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  17. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  18. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  19. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  20. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  21. She works as an advertiser at a New Jersey ________________.
  22. The water is too ________________.
  23. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  24. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. season — in sport
  2. mark — to pay attention
  3. capital — a city
  4. firm — decided
  5. game — wild animals
  6. game — a kind of play
  7. firm — steady
  8. bat — in an idiom
  9. mark — a trace
  10. mark — a grade
  11. bat — the animal
  12. season — to add flavour
  13. cold — the Cold War
  14. season — of the year
  15. game — a match
  16. capital — a big letter
  17. wake — before a funeral
  18. wake — a trail
  19. cold — an illness
  20. bat — for baseball
  21. firm — a company
  22. cold — not warm
  23. wake — to stop sleeping
  24. capital — money

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