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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: chest · capital · scale · cell · fine · game · kid · bowl

  1. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  2. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  3. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  4. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  5. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  6. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  7. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  8. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  9. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  10. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  11. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  12. He was locked up in a ________________.
  13. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  14. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  15. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  16. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  17. That was a fun ________________.
  18. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  19. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  20. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  21. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  22. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  23. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  24. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. fine — high quality
  2. scale — in music
  3. scale — for weighing
  4. fine — all right
  5. scale — size or range
  6. cell — a phone
  7. kid — to tease
  8. game — a kind of play
  9. bowl — a dish
  10. capital — a big letter
  11. chest — a box
  12. cell — in a prison
  13. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  14. game — wild animals
  15. chest — of your body
  16. fine — a penalty
  17. game — a match
  18. capital — money
  19. bowl — to roll
  20. bowl — a football final
  21. capital — a city
  22. cell — in biology
  23. chest — of your body
  24. kid — child

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