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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: dip · cell · bat · root · bore · race · capital · kid

  1. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  2. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  3. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  4. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  5. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  6. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  7. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  8. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  9. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  10. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  11. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  12. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  13. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  14. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  15. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  16. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  17. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  18. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  19. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  20. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  21. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  22. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  23. He was locked up in a ________________.
  24. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.

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

Answer key

  1. bore — to tire
  2. dip — a sauce
  3. kid — child
  4. capital — a city
  5. capital — money
  6. race — the arms race
  7. cell — a phone
  8. race — a contest
  9. bore — to drill
  10. root — the cause
  11. capital — a big letter
  12. race — humankind
  13. bore — gave birth
  14. kid — to tease
  15. root — of a plant
  16. bat — for baseball
  17. dip — to sink
  18. dip — to dunk
  19. bat — the animal
  20. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  21. root — of a word
  22. cell — in biology
  23. cell — in a prison
  24. bat — in an idiom

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