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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: cold · bay · capital · spell · drill · deal · rest · kid

  1. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  2. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  3. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  4. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  5. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  6. The sailing ship dropped anchor in the ________________.
  7. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  8. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  9. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. How do you ________________ your surname?
  12. The water is too ________________.
  13. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  16. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  17. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  18. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  19. My mare is ________________ in color.
  20. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  21. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  22. Close the lid of the trash can to keep odors and pests at ________________.
  23. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  24. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — a city
  2. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  3. kid — child
  4. rest — a break
  5. capital — a big letter
  6. bay — a part of the sea
  7. deal — to handle
  8. rest — what's left
  9. rest — what's left
  10. cold — an illness
  11. spell — letters
  12. cold — not warm
  13. drill — the tool
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. deal — a big deal
  16. deal — an agreement
  17. capital — money
  18. spell — magic
  19. bay — a horse colour
  20. kid — to tease
  21. spell — a short time
  22. bay — to keep at bay
  23. drill — a practice
  24. drill — army training

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