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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 ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  2. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  3. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  4. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  5. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  6. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  7. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  8. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  9. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  10. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  11. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  12. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  13. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  14. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  15. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  16. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  17. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  18. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  19. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  20. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  21. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  22. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  23. When are we going to ________________?
  24. We had a fire ________________ at school today.

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

Answer key

  1. bat — the animal
  2. bore — gave birth
  3. board — to get on
  4. bat — for baseball
  5. capital — money
  6. shower — rain
  7. board — a committee
  8. land — ground
  9. chest — a box
  10. capital — a city
  11. shower — to wash
  12. drill — the tool
  13. drill — army training
  14. land — a country
  15. capital — a big letter
  16. board — a flat piece
  17. chest — of your body
  18. bore — to drill
  19. shower — a meteor shower
  20. bore — to tire
  21. chest — of your body
  22. bat — in an idiom
  23. land — to come down
  24. drill — a practice

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