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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 strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  2. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  3. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  4. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  5. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  6. That must've been a ________________.
  7. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  8. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  9. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  10. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  11. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  12. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  13. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  14. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  15. We're on a ________________ here.
  16. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  17. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  18. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  19. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  20. There's no middle ________________.
  21. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  22. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  23. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  24. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. wind — moving air
  2. hand — help
  3. roll — a cake
  4. capital — a city
  5. rush — hurry
  6. rush — a thrill
  7. bore — gave birth
  8. bore — to tire
  9. bore — to drill
  10. capital — money
  11. roll — a list
  12. capital — a big letter
  13. wind — moving air
  14. hand — part of the body
  15. roll — on a roll
  16. hand — in cards
  17. ground — the earth
  18. rush — to hurry
  19. wind — to turn a key
  20. ground — a position
  21. ground — crushed
  22. march — music
  23. march — the month
  24. march — the month

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