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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: march · firm · ground · snap · kid · wave · cell · capital

  1. She works as an advertiser at a New Jersey ________________.
  2. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  3. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  4. I'll stand ________________ for what I deserve.
  5. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  6. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  7. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  8. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  9. There's no middle ________________.
  10. Nothing provides more peace of mind than a ________________ decision.
  11. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  12. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  13. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  14. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  15. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  16. He was locked up in a ________________.
  17. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  18. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  19. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  20. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  21. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  22. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  23. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  24. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.

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

Answer key

  1. firm — a company
  2. snap — to speak sharply
  3. kid — to tease
  4. firm — steady
  5. march — the month
  6. snap — to click
  7. ground — crushed
  8. capital — money
  9. ground — a position
  10. firm — decided
  11. wave — with your hand
  12. capital — a city
  13. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  14. wave — a sudden rise
  15. cell — a phone
  16. cell — in a prison
  17. march — the month
  18. cell — in biology
  19. capital — a big letter
  20. kid — child
  21. snap — to snap out of it
  22. march — music
  23. wave — of the sea
  24. ground — the earth

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