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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 124 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. Have you settled on a ________________?
  3. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  4. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  5. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  6. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  7. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  8. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  9. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  10. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  11. My father caught me by the ________________.
  12. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  13. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  14. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  15. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  16. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  17. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  18. The King held a masked ________________.
  19. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  20. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  21. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  22. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  23. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  24. The kitten curled into a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — a city
  2. date — on the calendar
  3. date — the fruit
  4. hand — part of the body
  5. hide — to keep secret
  6. hand — help
  7. hand — in cards
  8. bat — in an idiom
  9. arm — a part of something
  10. ball — a great time
  11. arm — part of the body
  12. capital — a big letter
  13. content — happy
  14. content — the amount
  15. capital — money
  16. bat — the animal
  17. date — on the calendar
  18. ball — a dance
  19. arm — part of the body
  20. hide — to keep secret
  21. bat — for baseball
  22. content — videos and posts
  23. hide — animal skin
  24. ball — a round shape

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

Make a worksheet (0 words)

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