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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. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  2. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  3. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  4. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  5. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  6. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  7. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  8. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  9. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  10. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  11. We're almost out of ________________.
  12. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  13. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  14. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  15. You don't need to ________________ round.
  16. The tickets are free of ________________.
  17. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  18. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  19. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  20. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  21. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  22. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  23. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  24. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.

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

Answer key

  1. squash — the sport
  2. bass — the instrument
  3. hide — to keep secret
  4. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  5. kid — to tease
  6. wind — to turn a key
  7. squash — to crush
  8. bass — the fish
  9. wind — moving air
  10. capital — money
  11. pop — soda
  12. capital — a city
  13. kid — child
  14. squash — the vegetable
  15. pop — to visit
  16. charge — a price
  17. capital — a big letter
  18. wind — moving air
  19. pop — music
  20. hide — to keep secret
  21. charge — electricity
  22. bass — low music
  23. charge — in control
  24. hide — animal skin

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