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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: capital · mark · bore · tube · squash · cold · kid · pit

  1. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  2. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  3. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  4. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  5. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  6. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  7. The water is too ________________.
  8. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  9. I'll be taking the ________________.
  10. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  11. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  12. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  13. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  14. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  15. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  16. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  17. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  18. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  19. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  20. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  21. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  22. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  23. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  24. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — a city
  2. cold — an illness
  3. pit — a fruit stone
  4. bore — to drill
  5. pit — in a race
  6. bore — to tire
  7. cold — not warm
  8. bore — gave birth
  9. tube — the underground
  10. cold — the Cold War
  11. pit — a hole
  12. tube — in a tire
  13. squash — the sport
  14. mark — to pay attention
  15. capital — a big letter
  16. kid — to tease
  17. capital — money
  18. tube — a container
  19. mark — a grade
  20. squash — the vegetable
  21. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  22. kid — child
  23. squash — to crush
  24. mark — a trace

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