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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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Word bank
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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: capital · pit · game · patient · bowl · last · snap · ground

  1. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  2. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  3. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  4. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  5. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  6. That was a fun ________________.
  7. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  8. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  9. False peace will not ________________.
  10. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  11. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  12. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  13. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  14. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  15. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  16. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  17. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  18. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  19. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  20. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  21. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  22. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  23. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  24. There's no middle ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. last — final
  2. snap — to click
  3. pit — a fruit stone
  4. bowl — to roll
  5. bowl — a dish
  6. game — a match
  7. game — a kind of play
  8. capital — a big letter
  9. last — to go on
  10. game — wild animals
  11. pit — in a race
  12. capital — money
  13. snap — to speak sharply
  14. ground — the earth
  15. snap — to snap out of it
  16. ground — crushed
  17. pit — a hole
  18. patient — a sick person
  19. capital — a city
  20. bowl — a football final
  21. patient — a sick person
  22. patient — calm and waiting
  23. last — finally
  24. ground — a position

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