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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 116 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. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  2. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  3. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  4. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  5. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  6. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  7. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  8. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  9. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  10. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  11. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  12. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  13. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  14. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  15. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  16. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  17. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  18. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  19. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  20. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  21. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  22. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  23. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  24. What was your ________________ profit last year?

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

Answer key

  1. capital — a city
  2. rock — a stone
  3. drill — army training
  4. straw — dry grass
  5. hand — part of the body
  6. straw — to clutch at straws
  7. fall — to drop
  8. hand — in cards
  9. capital — money
  10. straw — a straw man
  11. drill — a practice
  12. rock — music
  13. capital — a big letter
  14. row — to paddle
  15. fall — to drop
  16. rock — to move gently
  17. drill — the tool
  18. hand — help
  19. net — for catching
  20. row — a line
  21. net — in sport
  22. row — a quarrel
  23. fall — the season
  24. net — after costs

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