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

Word bank: kick · kid · capital · tube · deal · hand

  1. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  2. I'll be taking the ________________.
  3. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  4. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  5. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  6. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  7. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  8. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  9. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  10. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  11. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  12. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  13. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  14. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  15. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  16. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  17. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  18. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — a city
  2. tube — the underground
  3. capital — a big letter
  4. hand — part of the body
  5. kick — a thrill
  6. tube — a container
  7. hand — help
  8. deal — to handle
  9. capital — money
  10. hand — in cards
  11. deal — a big deal
  12. kid — child
  13. kick — with a leg
  14. kid — to tease
  15. kick — in football
  16. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  17. tube — in a tire
  18. deal — an agreement

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