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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 old man leaned on his ________________.
  2. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  3. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  4. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  5. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  6. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  7. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  8. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  9. Did you ________________ the meat?
  10. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  11. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  12. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  13. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  14. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  15. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  16. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  17. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  18. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  19. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  20. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  21. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  22. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  23. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  24. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. staff — a stick
  2. season — of the year
  3. hand — help
  4. capital — a big letter
  5. staff — employees
  6. prune — to trim
  7. march — music
  8. capital — a city
  9. season — to add flavour
  10. capital — money
  11. hand — part of the body
  12. march — the month
  13. staff — employees
  14. bat — for baseball
  15. bat — in an idiom
  16. row — to paddle
  17. prune — the fruit
  18. prune — to trim
  19. bat — the animal
  20. row — a quarrel
  21. march — the month
  22. row — a line
  23. hand — in cards
  24. season — in sport

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