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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: march · wind · game · capital · root · bat · deal · arm

  1. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  2. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  3. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  4. That was a fun ________________.
  5. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  6. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  7. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  8. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  9. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  10. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  11. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  12. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  13. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  14. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  15. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  16. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  17. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  18. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  19. My father caught me by the ________________.
  20. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  21. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  22. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  23. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  24. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. game — a kind of play
  2. capital — a city
  3. deal — an agreement
  4. game — a match
  5. arm — a part of something
  6. march — the month
  7. root — of a plant
  8. bat — the animal
  9. root — the cause
  10. bat — in an idiom
  11. march — the month
  12. march — music
  13. bat — for baseball
  14. wind — moving air
  15. root — of a word
  16. wind — to turn a key
  17. capital — a big letter
  18. deal — a big deal
  19. arm — part of the body
  20. arm — part of the body
  21. deal — to handle
  22. game — wild animals
  23. wind — moving air
  24. capital — money

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