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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. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  2. You don't need to ________________ round.
  3. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  4. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  5. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  6. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  7. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  8. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  9. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  10. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  11. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  12. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  13. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  14. We're almost out of ________________.
  15. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  16. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  17. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  18. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  19. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  20. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  21. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  22. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  23. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  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. squash — the sport
  2. pop — to visit
  3. squash — to crush
  4. capital — a big letter
  5. trunk — of an elephant
  6. racket — a loud noise
  7. racket — for tennis
  8. squash — the vegetable
  9. capital — a city
  10. race — a contest
  11. racket — for tennis
  12. race — the arms race
  13. trunk — of a car
  14. pop — soda
  15. march — the month
  16. race — humankind
  17. march — music
  18. trunk — of a tree
  19. patient — a sick person
  20. pop — music
  21. patient — calm and waiting
  22. march — the month
  23. patient — a sick person
  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