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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 120 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 ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  2. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  3. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  4. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  5. False peace will not ________________.
  6. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  7. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  8. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  9. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  10. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  11. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  12. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  13. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  14. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  15. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  16. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  17. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  18. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  19. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  20. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  21. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  22. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  23. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  24. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bat — for baseball
  2. pitch — a sports field
  3. last — finally
  4. fine — high quality
  5. last — to go on
  6. bat — the animal
  7. capital — money
  8. capital — a big letter
  9. fine — all right
  10. pitch — a sales talk
  11. mine — belonging to me
  12. mine — for digging
  13. bat — in an idiom
  14. fine — a penalty
  15. bore — gave birth
  16. file — a tool
  17. pitch — completely
  18. capital — a city
  19. bore — to drill
  20. file — a document
  21. mine — an explosive
  22. last — final
  23. bore — to tire
  24. file — a line of people

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