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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. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  2. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  3. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  4. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  5. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  6. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  7. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  8. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  9. There's no middle ________________.
  10. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  11. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  12. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  13. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  14. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  15. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  16. The water is too ________________.
  17. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  18. The ball is in your ________________.
  19. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  20. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  21. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  22. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  23. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  24. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.

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

Answer key

  1. snap — to click
  2. ground — crushed
  3. cold — an illness
  4. court — of law
  5. calf — of the leg
  6. capital — a big letter
  7. dip — to sink
  8. snap — to speak sharply
  9. ground — a position
  10. capital — a city
  11. snap — to snap out of it
  12. dip — to dunk
  13. court — of a king
  14. cap — a lid
  15. ground — the earth
  16. cold — not warm
  17. capital — money
  18. court — for sport
  19. calf — a young animal
  20. cold — the Cold War
  21. cap — of ice
  22. cap — a hat
  23. dip — a sauce
  24. calf — a young animal

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