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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. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  2. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  3. She works as an advertiser at a New Jersey ________________.
  4. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  5. I'll stand ________________ for what I deserve.
  6. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  7. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  8. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  9. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  10. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  11. Nothing provides more peace of mind than a ________________ decision.
  12. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  13. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  14. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  15. The ball is in your ________________.
  16. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  17. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  18. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  19. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  20. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  21. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  22. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  23. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  24. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — money
  2. pound — to hit hard
  3. firm — a company
  4. present — there
  5. firm — steady
  6. kid — to tease
  7. clip — to cut
  8. bat — the animal
  9. bat — in an idiom
  10. present — the time now
  11. firm — decided
  12. capital — a big letter
  13. bat — for baseball
  14. pound — for dogs
  15. court — for sport
  16. clip — a video
  17. pound — a weight
  18. clip — for paper
  19. court — of law
  20. court — of a king
  21. present — a gift
  22. capital — a city
  23. kid — child
  24. kid — young goat (kid gloves)

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