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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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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: drill · ground · wake · capital · rest · straw · kid · scale

  1. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  2. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  3. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  4. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  5. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  6. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  7. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  8. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  9. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  10. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  11. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  12. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  13. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  14. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  15. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  16. There's no middle ________________.
  17. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  18. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  19. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  20. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  21. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  22. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  23. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  24. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. scale — for weighing
  2. scale — size or range
  3. straw — a straw man
  4. drill — army training
  5. ground — crushed
  6. drill — a practice
  7. capital — a city
  8. rest — what's left
  9. rest — what's left
  10. rest — a break
  11. kid — to tease
  12. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  13. drill — the tool
  14. capital — money
  15. wake — to stop sleeping
  16. ground — a position
  17. wake — a trail
  18. straw — dry grass
  19. scale — in music
  20. straw — to clutch at straws
  21. ground — the earth
  22. wake — before a funeral
  23. capital — a big letter
  24. kid — child

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