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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: race · fall · bat · ground · capital · chair

  1. There's no middle ________________.
  2. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  3. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  4. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  5. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  6. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  7. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  8. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  9. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  10. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  11. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  12. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  13. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  14. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  15. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  16. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  17. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  18. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.

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

Answer key

  1. ground — a position
  2. capital — a big letter
  3. capital — a city
  4. race — a contest
  5. ground — the earth
  6. chair — to sit on
  7. capital — money
  8. bat — in an idiom
  9. bat — for baseball
  10. race — humankind
  11. chair — a professorship
  12. fall — the season
  13. fall — to drop
  14. chair — a leader
  15. fall — to drop
  16. ground — crushed
  17. race — the arms race
  18. bat — the animal

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