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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. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  2. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  3. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  4. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  5. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  6. I'll be taking the ________________.
  7. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  8. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  9. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  10. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  11. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  12. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  13. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  14. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  15. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  16. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  17. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  18. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  19. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  20. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  21. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  22. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  23. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  24. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.

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

Answer key

  1. leaves — of a tree
  2. degree — temperature
  3. hand — in cards
  4. straw — dry grass
  5. straw — to clutch at straws
  6. tube — the underground
  7. tube — in a tire
  8. tube — a container
  9. bat — the animal
  10. hand — help
  11. bat — in an idiom
  12. leaves — to go away
  13. capital — a big letter
  14. capital — money
  15. leaves — lets stay
  16. present — a gift
  17. hand — part of the body
  18. capital — a city
  19. bat — for baseball
  20. degree — an amount
  21. straw — a straw man
  22. degree — from a university
  23. present — the time now
  24. present — there

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