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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. I'll be taking the ________________.
  2. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  3. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  4. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  5. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  6. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  7. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  8. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  9. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  10. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  11. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  12. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  13. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  14. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  15. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  16. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  17. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  18. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  19. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  20. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  21. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  22. The King held a masked ________________.
  23. That was a fun ________________.
  24. This looks like a gunshot ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. tube — the underground
  2. capital — a city
  3. capital — money
  4. ball — a great time
  5. ball — a round shape
  6. wound — an injury
  7. game — a kind of play
  8. tear — from crying
  9. wound — past of 'wind'
  10. march — the month
  11. march — the month
  12. tear — to rip
  13. rest — what's left
  14. capital — a big letter
  15. tube — in a tire
  16. tube — a container
  17. rest — what's left
  18. march — music
  19. rest — a break
  20. tear — from crying
  21. game — wild animals
  22. ball — a dance
  23. game — a match
  24. wound — an injury

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