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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 beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  2. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  3. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  4. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  5. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  6. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  7. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  8. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  9. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  10. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  11. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  12. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  13. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  14. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  15. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  16. Don't do anything ________________.
  17. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  18. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  19. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  20. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  21. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  22. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  23. The ________________ took off on time.
  24. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — a big letter
  2. mine — for digging
  3. cue — for pool
  4. mine — belonging to me
  5. rash — a series
  6. cue — a signal
  7. field — for sport
  8. straw — a straw man
  9. mine — an explosive
  10. straw — dry grass
  11. field — farmland
  12. capital — money
  13. plane — a tool
  14. straw — to clutch at straws
  15. cue — a hint
  16. rash — hasty
  17. pit — in a race
  18. pit — a hole
  19. field — a subject
  20. rash — on the skin
  21. pit — a fruit stone
  22. capital — a city
  23. plane — an aircraft
  24. plane — in geometry

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