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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. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  2. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  3. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  4. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  5. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  6. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  7. When are we going to ________________?
  8. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  9. Borders were drawn on the map using a ________________, with no regard for cultural realities on the ground.
  10. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  11. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  12. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  13. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  14. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  15. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  16. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  17. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  18. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  19. False peace will not ________________.
  20. The people resisted their cruel ________________.
  21. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  22. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  23. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  24. A ________________ helps one to draw a straight line.

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

Answer key

  1. racket — for tennis
  2. row — a line
  3. racket — a loud noise
  4. row — a quarrel
  5. wound — past of 'wind'
  6. last — final
  7. land — to come down
  8. wound — an injury
  9. ruler — for measuring
  10. capital — a big letter
  11. shower — rain
  12. wound — an injury
  13. shower — a meteor shower
  14. shower — to wash
  15. capital — money
  16. racket — for tennis
  17. capital — a city
  18. land — ground
  19. last — to go on
  20. ruler — a monarch
  21. last — finally
  22. land — a country
  23. row — to paddle
  24. ruler — for measuring

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