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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. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  2. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  3. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  4. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  5. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  6. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  7. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  8. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  9. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  10. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  11. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  12. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  13. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  14. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  15. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  16. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  17. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  18. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  19. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  20. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  21. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  22. The water is too ________________.
  23. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  24. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — a big letter
  2. bore — to tire
  3. tear — from crying
  4. racket — for tennis
  5. bat — in an idiom
  6. row — a quarrel
  7. bore — gave birth
  8. deal — a big deal
  9. row — a line
  10. bat — for baseball
  11. racket — for tennis
  12. racket — a loud noise
  13. capital — money
  14. deal — to handle
  15. row — to paddle
  16. capital — a city
  17. bat — the animal
  18. cold — the Cold War
  19. bore — to drill
  20. tear — to rip
  21. tear — from crying
  22. cold — not warm
  23. deal — an agreement
  24. cold — an illness

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