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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 ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  2. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  3. He is an ace ________________.
  4. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  5. That was a fun ________________.
  6. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  7. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  8. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  9. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  10. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  11. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  12. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  13. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  14. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  15. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  16. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  17. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  18. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  19. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  20. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  21. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  22. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  23. The ________________ took off on time.
  24. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.

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

Answer key

  1. pitcher — a jug
  2. capital — a big letter
  3. pitcher — in baseball
  4. hide — animal skin
  5. game — a match
  6. degree — an amount
  7. capital — a city
  8. hide — to keep secret
  9. plane — in geometry
  10. fan — a supporter
  11. row — a quarrel
  12. pitcher — a jug
  13. degree — temperature
  14. game — wild animals
  15. row — to paddle
  16. capital — money
  17. row — a line
  18. fan — to cool the air
  19. fan — a supporter
  20. game — a kind of play
  21. hide — to keep secret
  22. degree — from a university
  23. plane — an aircraft
  24. plane — a tool

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