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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 116 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: mine · capital · snap · fork · wind · dip · bat · drill

  1. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  2. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  3. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  4. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  5. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  6. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  7. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  8. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  9. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  10. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  11. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  12. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  13. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  14. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  15. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  16. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  17. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  18. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  19. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  20. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  21. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  22. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  23. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  24. Beijing is the ________________ of China.

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

Answer key

  1. fork — a garden tool
  2. drill — the tool
  3. bat — for baseball
  4. mine — for digging
  5. wind — moving air
  6. wind — moving air
  7. snap — to speak sharply
  8. dip — to dunk
  9. bat — the animal
  10. wind — to turn a key
  11. snap — to snap out of it
  12. drill — a practice
  13. bat — in an idiom
  14. snap — to click
  15. fork — in a road
  16. fork — to eat with
  17. dip — a sauce
  18. mine — an explosive
  19. dip — to sink
  20. capital — a big letter
  21. capital — money
  22. mine — belonging to me
  23. drill — army training
  24. capital — a city

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