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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. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  2. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  3. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  4. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  5. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  6. David sat on the ________________.
  7. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  8. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  9. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  10. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  11. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  12. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  13. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  14. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  15. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  16. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  17. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  18. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  19. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  20. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  21. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  22. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  23. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  24. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.

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

Answer key

  1. hand — help
  2. hand — part of the body
  3. hand — in cards
  4. capital — a city
  5. field — farmland
  6. swing — to play on
  7. can — to be able to
  8. lash — to lash out
  9. wound — past of 'wind'
  10. scale — for weighing
  11. can — a tin
  12. swing — in golf
  13. lash — a whip stroke
  14. scale — size or range
  15. capital — money
  16. scale — in music
  17. capital — a big letter
  18. wound — an injury
  19. field — for sport
  20. field — a subject
  21. can — a tin
  22. wound — an injury
  23. lash — an eyelash
  24. swing — music

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