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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: racket · pound · capital · kid · cold · ground · roll · wake

  1. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  2. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  3. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  4. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  5. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  6. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  7. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  8. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  9. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  10. We're on a ________________ here.
  11. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  12. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  13. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  14. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  15. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  16. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  17. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  18. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  19. There's no middle ________________.
  20. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  21. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  22. The water is too ________________.
  23. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  24. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — child
  2. roll — a cake
  3. racket — for tennis
  4. capital — money
  5. wake — a trail
  6. roll — a list
  7. wake — to stop sleeping
  8. racket — a loud noise
  9. racket — for tennis
  10. roll — on a roll
  11. capital — a city
  12. pound — to hit hard
  13. kid — to tease
  14. cold — an illness
  15. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  16. pound — for dogs
  17. pound — a weight
  18. capital — a big letter
  19. ground — a position
  20. ground — crushed
  21. cold — the Cold War
  22. cold — not warm
  23. ground — the earth
  24. wake — before a funeral

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