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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 120 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: capital · fine · coach · squash · bat · game · wound · foot

  1. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  2. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  3. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  4. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  5. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  6. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  7. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  8. Have you met the new head ________________?
  9. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  10. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  11. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  12. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  13. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  14. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  15. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  16. That was a fun ________________.
  17. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  18. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  19. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  20. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  21. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  22. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  23. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  24. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.

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

Answer key

  1. squash — the sport
  2. wound — an injury
  3. foot — part of the body
  4. foot — the bottom
  5. coach — pulled by horses
  6. coach — a trainer
  7. fine — a penalty
  8. coach — a trainer
  9. squash — to crush
  10. bat — the animal
  11. fine — high quality
  12. wound — past of 'wind'
  13. game — a kind of play
  14. foot — a measure
  15. squash — the vegetable
  16. game — a match
  17. game — wild animals
  18. capital — a big letter
  19. fine — all right
  20. capital — money
  21. bat — in an idiom
  22. bat — for baseball
  23. capital — a city
  24. wound — an injury

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