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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. I'll be taking the ________________.
  3. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  4. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  5. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  6. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  7. You don't need to ________________ round.
  8. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  9. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  10. We're almost out of ________________.
  11. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  12. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  13. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  14. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  15. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  16. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  17. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  18. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  19. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  20. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  21. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  22. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  23. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  24. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — a big letter
  2. tube — the underground
  3. tube — a container
  4. prune — to trim
  5. lash — a whip stroke
  6. tube — in a tire
  7. pop — to visit
  8. wound — an injury
  9. wound — an injury
  10. pop — soda
  11. capital — a city
  12. prune — to trim
  13. lash — an eyelash
  14. wound — past of 'wind'
  15. bat — the animal
  16. mark — to pay attention
  17. pop — music
  18. prune — the fruit
  19. bat — in an idiom
  20. mark — a trace
  21. mark — a grade
  22. lash — to lash out
  23. capital — money
  24. bat — for baseball

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