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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. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  2. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  3. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  4. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  5. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  6. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  7. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  8. Have you met the new head ________________?
  9. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  10. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  11. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  12. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  13. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  14. The water is too ________________.
  15. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  16. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  17. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  18. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  19. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  20. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  21. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  22. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  23. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  24. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.

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

Answer key

  1. coach — pulled by horses
  2. kick — with a leg
  3. wound — an injury
  4. race — a contest
  5. capital — a big letter
  6. coach — a trainer
  7. cue — a signal
  8. coach — a trainer
  9. branch — of a bank
  10. wound — past of 'wind'
  11. cue — a hint
  12. wound — an injury
  13. capital — money
  14. cold — not warm
  15. cold — an illness
  16. kick — in football
  17. branch — of a tree
  18. kick — a thrill
  19. race — the arms race
  20. race — humankind
  21. cue — for pool
  22. branch — a division
  23. capital — a city
  24. cold — the Cold War

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