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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: pound · capital · bat · ground · spell · kid · staff · rest

  1. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  2. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  3. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  4. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  5. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  6. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  7. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  8. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  9. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  10. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  11. How do you ________________ your surname?
  12. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  13. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  14. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  15. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  16. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  17. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  18. There's no middle ________________.
  19. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  20. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  21. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  22. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  23. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  24. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — child
  2. staff — employees
  3. bat — the animal
  4. pound — to hit hard
  5. capital — a big letter
  6. capital — money
  7. bat — in an idiom
  8. bat — for baseball
  9. staff — a stick
  10. rest — a break
  11. spell — letters
  12. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  13. spell — magic
  14. ground — crushed
  15. ground — the earth
  16. kid — to tease
  17. spell — a short time
  18. ground — a position
  19. rest — what's left
  20. capital — a city
  21. pound — for dogs
  22. pound — a weight
  23. staff — employees
  24. rest — what's left

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