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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. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  2. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  3. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  4. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  5. That was a fun ________________.
  6. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  7. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  8. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  9. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  10. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  11. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  12. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  13. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  14. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  15. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  16. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  17. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  18. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  19. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  20. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  21. The tickets are free of ________________.
  22. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  23. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  24. Beijing is the ________________ of China.

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

Answer key

  1. mine — an explosive
  2. hide — to keep secret
  3. hide — to keep secret
  4. capital — a big letter
  5. game — a match
  6. row — a quarrel
  7. row — to paddle
  8. charge — electricity
  9. wake — to stop sleeping
  10. charge — in control
  11. mine — belonging to me
  12. wake — a trail
  13. wake — before a funeral
  14. game — a kind of play
  15. bat — the animal
  16. hide — animal skin
  17. bat — for baseball
  18. bat — in an idiom
  19. row — a line
  20. mine — for digging
  21. charge — a price
  22. capital — money
  23. game — wild animals
  24. capital — a city

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