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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. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  2. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  3. False peace will not ________________.
  4. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  5. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  6. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  7. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  8. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  9. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  10. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  11. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  12. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  13. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  14. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  15. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  16. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  17. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  18. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  19. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  20. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  21. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  22. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  23. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  24. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.

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

Answer key

  1. drill — the tool
  2. capital — money
  3. last — to go on
  4. content — the amount
  5. race — a contest
  6. current — electric
  7. wound — past of 'wind'
  8. capital — a big letter
  9. race — humankind
  10. race — the arms race
  11. wound — an injury
  12. drill — army training
  13. last — final
  14. content — happy
  15. current — of water
  16. last — finally
  17. bat — the animal
  18. wound — an injury
  19. drill — a practice
  20. bat — for baseball
  21. content — videos and posts
  22. current — happening now
  23. capital — a city
  24. bat — in an idiom

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