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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: hand · snap · capital · trunk · bat · rule · racket · rest

  1. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  2. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  3. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  4. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  5. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  6. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  7. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  8. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  9. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  10. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  11. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  12. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  13. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  14. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  15. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  16. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  17. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  18. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  19. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  20. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  21. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  22. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  23. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  24. 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. rule — government
  2. racket — a loud noise
  3. racket — for tennis
  4. capital — money
  5. capital — a big letter
  6. trunk — of a car
  7. hand — help
  8. hand — in cards
  9. trunk — of an elephant
  10. bat — in an idiom
  11. capital — a city
  12. hand — part of the body
  13. rest — a break
  14. rule — to rule out
  15. snap — to snap out of it
  16. bat — for baseball
  17. rest — what's left
  18. trunk — of a tree
  19. snap — to click
  20. rule — a law
  21. racket — for tennis
  22. rest — what's left
  23. snap — to speak sharply
  24. 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