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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: tear · kid · foot · patient · capital · last · fall · pop

  1. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  2. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  3. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  4. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  5. We're almost out of ________________.
  6. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  7. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  8. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  9. False peace will not ________________.
  10. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  11. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  12. You don't need to ________________ round.
  13. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  14. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  15. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  16. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  17. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  18. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  19. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  20. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  21. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  22. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  23. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  24. At ________________, we arrived at the village.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — money
  2. capital — a city
  3. patient — calm and waiting
  4. tear — from crying
  5. pop — soda
  6. patient — a sick person
  7. foot — a measure
  8. pop — music
  9. last — to go on
  10. kid — child
  11. last — final
  12. pop — to visit
  13. tear — from crying
  14. fall — the season
  15. foot — part of the body
  16. patient — a sick person
  17. fall — to drop
  18. tear — to rip
  19. capital — a big letter
  20. fall — to drop
  21. kid — to tease
  22. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  23. foot — the bottom
  24. last — finally

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