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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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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: kid · capital · drill · pound · nail · land · bat · tube

  1. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  2. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  3. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  4. When are we going to ________________?
  5. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  6. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  7. The ________________ went through the wall.
  8. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  9. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  10. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  11. I'll be taking the ________________.
  12. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  13. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  14. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  15. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  16. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  17. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  18. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  19. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  20. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  21. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  22. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  23. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  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. land — ground
  2. bat — in an idiom
  3. bat — for baseball
  4. land — to come down
  5. bat — the animal
  6. capital — a city
  7. nail — for a hammer
  8. drill — a practice
  9. capital — a big letter
  10. nail — on a finger
  11. tube — the underground
  12. tube — in a tire
  13. nail — for a hammer
  14. drill — army training
  15. pound — for dogs
  16. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  17. pound — to hit hard
  18. land — a country
  19. pound — a weight
  20. kid — child
  21. tube — a container
  22. drill — the tool
  23. kid — to tease
  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