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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 strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  2. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  3. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  4. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  5. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  6. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  7. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  8. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  9. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  10. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  11. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  12. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  13. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  14. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  15. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  16. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  17. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  18. Have you met the new head ________________?
  19. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  20. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  21. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  22. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  23. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  24. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?

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

Answer key

  1. wind — moving air
  2. field — a subject
  3. capital — a big letter
  4. wind — moving air
  5. kick — in football
  6. kick — a thrill
  7. snap — to speak sharply
  8. snap — to click
  9. wind — to turn a key
  10. field — for sport
  11. scale — in music
  12. kick — with a leg
  13. cap — a hat
  14. coach — a trainer
  15. scale — for weighing
  16. capital — a city
  17. scale — size or range
  18. coach — a trainer
  19. cap — of ice
  20. field — farmland
  21. capital — money
  22. coach — pulled by horses
  23. snap — to snap out of it
  24. cap — a lid

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