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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. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  2. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  3. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  4. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  5. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  6. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  7. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  8. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  9. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  10. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  11. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  12. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  13. It's one o'clock ________________.
  14. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  15. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  16. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  17. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  18. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  19. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  20. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  21. That must've been a ________________.
  22. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  23. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  24. This knife is not ________________ enough.

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

Answer key

  1. bass — the fish
  2. capital — a big letter
  3. pitch — a sales talk
  4. band — a rubber band
  5. pitch — completely
  6. rush — to hurry
  7. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  8. capital — a city
  9. rush — hurry
  10. capital — money
  11. tear — to rip
  12. band — a ring
  13. sharp — exactly
  14. bass — the instrument
  15. pitch — a sports field
  16. tear — from crying
  17. kid — child
  18. bass — low music
  19. band — a music group
  20. tear — from crying
  21. rush — a thrill
  22. sharp — clever
  23. kid — to tease
  24. sharp — with an edge

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