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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. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  2. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  3. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  4. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  5. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  6. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  7. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  8. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  9. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  10. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  11. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  12. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  13. Have you found your soul ________________?
  14. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  15. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  16. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  17. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  18. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  19. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  20. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  21. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  22. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  23. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  24. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.

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

Answer key

  1. bat — in an idiom
  2. capital — a big letter
  3. capital — a city
  4. wake — before a funeral
  5. kid — child
  6. wake — to stop sleeping
  7. spring — of water
  8. wake — a trail
  9. capital — money
  10. mark — a trace
  11. clip — for paper
  12. clip — a video
  13. mate — a partner
  14. spring — a coil
  15. kid — to tease
  16. mate — a friend
  17. clip — to cut
  18. mate — to breed
  19. mark — a grade
  20. spring — the season
  21. bat — for baseball
  22. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  23. bat — the animal
  24. mark — to pay attention

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