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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. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  2. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  3. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  4. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  5. The water is too ________________.
  6. When are we going to ________________?
  7. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  8. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  9. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  10. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  11. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  12. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  13. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  14. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  15. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  16. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  17. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  18. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  19. The King held a masked ________________.
  20. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  21. That was a fun ________________.
  22. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  23. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  24. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — money
  2. capital — a city
  3. ball — a round shape
  4. calf — a young animal
  5. cold — not warm
  6. land — to come down
  7. land — ground
  8. calf — of the leg
  9. chest — a box
  10. capital — a big letter
  11. ball — a great time
  12. chest — of your body
  13. patient — a sick person
  14. cold — an illness
  15. calf — a young animal
  16. game — a kind of play
  17. land — a country
  18. game — wild animals
  19. ball — a dance
  20. cold — the Cold War
  21. game — a match
  22. chest — of your body
  23. patient — a sick person
  24. patient — calm and waiting

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