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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.

Words on the sheet
468
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: capital · bark · scale · racket · staff · bat · wound · mate

  1. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  2. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  3. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  4. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  5. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  6. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  7. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  8. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  9. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  10. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  11. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  12. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  13. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  14. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  15. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  16. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  17. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  18. Have you found your soul ________________?
  19. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  20. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  21. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  22. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  23. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  24. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — a city
  2. staff — employees
  3. staff — a stick
  4. scale — size or range
  5. racket — a loud noise
  6. staff — employees
  7. capital — a big letter
  8. bat — the animal
  9. mate — a friend
  10. capital — money
  11. wound — an injury
  12. bark — of a tree
  13. bark — to shout
  14. wound — an injury
  15. bat — in an idiom
  16. wound — past of 'wind'
  17. bat — for baseball
  18. mate — a partner
  19. mate — to breed
  20. racket — for tennis
  21. bark — a dog's sound
  22. scale — in music
  23. scale — for weighing
  24. racket — for tennis

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