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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: capital · ruler · wound · kid · coach · chip · bat · bowl

  1. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  2. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  3. Have you met the new head ________________?
  4. The people resisted their cruel ________________.
  5. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  6. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  7. Borders were drawn on the map using a ________________, with no regard for cultural realities on the ground.
  8. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  9. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  10. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  11. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  12. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  13. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  14. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  15. A ________________ helps one to draw a straight line.
  16. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  17. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  18. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  19. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  20. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  21. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  22. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  23. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  24. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.

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

Answer key

  1. bowl — a dish
  2. capital — a city
  3. coach — a trainer
  4. ruler — a monarch
  5. wound — an injury
  6. bowl — to roll
  7. ruler — for measuring
  8. chip — for betting
  9. kid — child
  10. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  11. bat — in an idiom
  12. wound — past of 'wind'
  13. capital — money
  14. bat — for baseball
  15. ruler — for measuring
  16. bat — the animal
  17. kid — to tease
  18. coach — a trainer
  19. coach — pulled by horses
  20. chip — in a computer
  21. capital — a big letter
  22. wound — an injury
  23. bowl — a football final
  24. chip — to eat

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