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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 beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  2. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  3. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  4. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  5. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  6. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  7. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  8. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  9. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  10. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  11. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  12. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  13. That was a fun ________________.
  14. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  15. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  16. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  17. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  18. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  19. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  20. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  21. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  22. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  23. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  24. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — a big letter
  2. hand — part of the body
  3. stick — a piece of wood
  4. capital — a city
  5. degree — temperature
  6. stick — to attach or keep to
  7. game — a kind of play
  8. bat — for baseball
  9. kick — a thrill
  10. stick — a piece of wood
  11. bat — in an idiom
  12. bat — the animal
  13. game — a match
  14. hand — help
  15. degree — an amount
  16. game — wild animals
  17. bark — to shout
  18. bark — of a tree
  19. kick — in football
  20. kick — with a leg
  21. degree — from a university
  22. capital — money
  23. hand — in cards
  24. bark — a dog's sound

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