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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. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  3. It's one o'clock ________________.
  4. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  5. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  6. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  7. The King held a masked ________________.
  8. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  9. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  10. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  11. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  12. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  13. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  14. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  15. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  16. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  17. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  18. He was locked up in a ________________.
  19. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  20. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  21. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  22. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  23. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  24. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — a big letter
  2. band — a ring
  3. sharp — exactly
  4. perch — the fish
  5. perch — for a bird
  6. ball — a great time
  7. ball — a dance
  8. sharp — clever
  9. lash — an eyelash
  10. ball — a round shape
  11. patient — a sick person
  12. capital — a city
  13. perch — for a bird
  14. capital — money
  15. lash — a whip stroke
  16. sharp — with an edge
  17. patient — a sick person
  18. cell — in a prison
  19. lash — to lash out
  20. patient — calm and waiting
  21. cell — a phone
  22. cell — in biology
  23. band — a rubber band
  24. band — a music group

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