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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. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  2. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  3. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  4. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  5. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  6. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  7. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  8. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  9. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  10. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  11. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  12. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  13. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  14. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  15. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  16. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  17. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  18. False peace will not ________________.
  19. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  20. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  21. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  22. It's one o'clock ________________.
  23. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  24. At ________________, we arrived at the village.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — money
  2. drill — the tool
  3. hand — help
  4. fork — in a road
  5. hand — part of the body
  6. hand — in cards
  7. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  8. kid — to tease
  9. drill — a practice
  10. fork — to eat with
  11. drill — army training
  12. sharp — clever
  13. fork — a garden tool
  14. fall — to drop
  15. kid — child
  16. fall — to drop
  17. last — final
  18. last — to go on
  19. sharp — with an edge
  20. capital — a city
  21. capital — a big letter
  22. sharp — exactly
  23. fall — the season
  24. last — finally

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