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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 from the word bank in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

Word bank: kid · pound · drill · chest · capital · key

  1. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  2. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  3. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  4. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  5. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  6. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  7. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  8. This piece is in a major ________________.
  9. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  10. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  11. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  12. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  13. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  14. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  15. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  16. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  17. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  18. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. pound — for dogs
  2. capital — a city
  3. drill — the tool
  4. capital — a big letter
  5. key — for a lock
  6. drill — army training
  7. chest — of your body
  8. key — in music
  9. pound — to hit hard
  10. capital — money
  11. chest — a box
  12. pound — a weight
  13. drill — a practice
  14. kid — to tease
  15. key — the most important part
  16. kid — child
  17. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  18. chest — of your body

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