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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: mark · object · capital · cue · cold · bat · lash · field

  1. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  2. The water is too ________________.
  3. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  4. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  5. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  6. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  7. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  8. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  9. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  10. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  11. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  12. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  13. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  14. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  15. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  16. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  17. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  18. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  19. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  20. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  21. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  22. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  23. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  24. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.

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

Answer key

  1. mark — a trace
  2. cold — not warm
  3. cold — an illness
  4. capital — a big letter
  5. lash — to lash out
  6. cue — a signal
  7. bat — the animal
  8. field — farmland
  9. object — to protest
  10. lash — a whip stroke
  11. cue — a hint
  12. bat — in an idiom
  13. bat — for baseball
  14. mark — a grade
  15. field — for sport
  16. cold — the Cold War
  17. lash — an eyelash
  18. capital — a city
  19. mark — to pay attention
  20. object — a thing
  21. field — a subject
  22. object — an aim
  23. capital — money
  24. cue — for pool

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