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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. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  2. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  3. You don't need to ________________ round.
  4. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  5. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  6. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  7. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  8. This piece is in a major ________________.
  9. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  10. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  11. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  12. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  13. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  14. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  15. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  16. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  17. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  18. We're almost out of ________________.
  19. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  20. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  21. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  22. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  23. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  24. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.

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

Answer key

  1. key — the most important part
  2. capital — a city
  3. pop — to visit
  4. capital — a big letter
  5. pit — a fruit stone
  6. root — the cause
  7. kid — to tease
  8. key — in music
  9. pit — a hole
  10. capital — money
  11. wax — for sculpting
  12. wax — in the ear
  13. bat — for baseball
  14. bat — in an idiom
  15. pop — music
  16. wax — to grow
  17. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  18. pop — soda
  19. root — of a plant
  20. bat — the animal
  21. root — of a word
  22. key — for a lock
  23. kid — child
  24. pit — in a race

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