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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. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  2. I can't ________________ this cold.
  3. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  4. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  5. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  6. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  7. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  8. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  9. It's one o'clock ________________.
  10. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  11. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  12. The King held a masked ________________.
  13. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  14. He is an ace ________________.
  15. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  16. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  17. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  18. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  19. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  20. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  21. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  22. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  23. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  24. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — a city
  2. stand — to bear
  3. hand — part of the body
  4. sharp — with an edge
  5. chest — a box
  6. hand — in cards
  7. hand — help
  8. pitcher — a jug
  9. sharp — exactly
  10. kid — to tease
  11. kid — child
  12. ball — a dance
  13. chest — of your body
  14. pitcher — in baseball
  15. stand — for spectators
  16. ball — a round shape
  17. capital — a big letter
  18. capital — money
  19. stand — on your feet
  20. sharp — clever
  21. ball — a great time
  22. chest — of your body
  23. pitcher — a jug
  24. kid — young goat (kid gloves)

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