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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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Word bank
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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: bat · rest · nail · game · dip · capital · charge · field

  1. The tickets are free of ________________.
  2. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  3. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  4. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  5. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  6. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  7. The ________________ went through the wall.
  8. That was a fun ________________.
  9. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  10. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  11. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  12. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  13. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  14. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  15. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  16. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  17. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  18. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  19. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  20. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  21. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  22. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  23. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  24. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.

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

Answer key

  1. charge — a price
  2. nail — on a finger
  3. capital — a city
  4. field — a subject
  5. field — farmland
  6. field — for sport
  7. nail — for a hammer
  8. game — a match
  9. capital — money
  10. bat — in an idiom
  11. dip — to sink
  12. capital — a big letter
  13. game — wild animals
  14. rest — a break
  15. charge — in control
  16. nail — for a hammer
  17. charge — electricity
  18. bat — for baseball
  19. dip — a sauce
  20. dip — to dunk
  21. rest — what's left
  22. rest — what's left
  23. game — a kind of play
  24. bat — the animal

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