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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 124 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 office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  2. The water is too ________________.
  3. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  4. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  5. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  6. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  9. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  10. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  11. There's no middle ________________.
  12. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  13. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  14. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  15. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  16. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  17. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  18. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  19. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  20. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  21. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  22. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  23. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  24. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.

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

Answer key

  1. staff — employees
  2. cold — not warm
  3. bowl — to roll
  4. capital — money
  5. hand — in cards
  6. capital — a big letter
  7. cold — an illness
  8. wave — a sudden rise
  9. bowl — a football final
  10. bowl — a dish
  11. ground — a position
  12. bat — the animal
  13. hand — help
  14. hand — part of the body
  15. staff — a stick
  16. bat — in an idiom
  17. capital — a city
  18. cold — the Cold War
  19. wave — of the sea
  20. staff — employees
  21. wave — with your hand
  22. ground — crushed
  23. bat — for baseball
  24. ground — the earth

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