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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: club · pound · last · kid · capital · row · saw · drill

  1. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  2. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  3. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  4. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  5. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  6. He works in a ________________ mill.
  7. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  8. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  9. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  10. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  11. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  12. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  13. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  14. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  15. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  16. False peace will not ________________.
  17. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  18. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  19. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  20. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  21. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  22. She's very handy with a ________________.
  23. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  24. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — a big letter
  2. row — a line
  3. last — final
  4. kid — child
  5. drill — the tool
  6. saw — the tool
  7. club — for golf
  8. drill — a practice
  9. capital — money
  10. last — finally
  11. capital — a city
  12. kid — to tease
  13. club — a group
  14. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  15. row — to paddle
  16. last — to go on
  17. saw — past of 'see'
  18. pound — a weight
  19. pound — for dogs
  20. row — a quarrel
  21. club — for dancing
  22. saw — the tool
  23. drill — army training
  24. pound — to hit hard

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