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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 120 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. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  2. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  3. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  4. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  5. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  6. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  7. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  8. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  9. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  10. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  11. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  12. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  13. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  14. When will it ________________ you to start?
  15. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  16. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  17. He was locked up in a ________________.
  18. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  19. Positive actions can inspire others to follow ________________.
  20. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  21. False peace will not ________________.
  22. The cuffs of his ________________ jacket are badly frayed.
  23. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  24. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.

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

Answer key

  1. last — finally
  2. bat — for baseball
  3. hand — part of the body
  4. hand — help
  5. capital — money
  6. tear — from crying
  7. capital — a big letter
  8. straw — to clutch at straws
  9. bat — the animal
  10. straw — a straw man
  11. straw — dry grass
  12. cell — a phone
  13. last — final
  14. suit — to fit
  15. tear — to rip
  16. hand — in cards
  17. cell — in a prison
  18. capital — a city
  19. suit — in cards
  20. bat — in an idiom
  21. last — to go on
  22. suit — clothes
  23. cell — in biology
  24. tear — from crying

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