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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 120 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 band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  2. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  3. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  4. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  5. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  6. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  7. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  8. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  9. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  10. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  11. It's one o'clock ________________.
  12. My father caught me by the ________________.
  13. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  14. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  15. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  16. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  17. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  18. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  19. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  20. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  21. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  22. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  23. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  24. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.

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

Answer key

  1. march — music
  2. capital — a big letter
  3. bat — for baseball
  4. arm — part of the body
  5. cue — a hint
  6. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  7. capital — money
  8. sharp — with an edge
  9. capital — a city
  10. cue — a signal
  11. sharp — exactly
  12. arm — part of the body
  13. bat — the animal
  14. cue — for pool
  15. kid — to tease
  16. arm — a part of something
  17. march — the month
  18. march — the month
  19. kid — child
  20. squash — to crush
  21. squash — the sport
  22. bat — in an idiom
  23. sharp — clever
  24. squash — the vegetable

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