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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: cabinet · capital · spell · pit · chair · field · kid · hand

  1. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  2. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  3. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  4. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  5. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  6. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  7. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  8. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  9. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  10. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  11. What do you think of the new ________________?
  12. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  13. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  14. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  15. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  16. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  17. How do you ________________ your surname?
  18. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  19. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  20. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  21. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  22. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  23. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  24. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.

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

Answer key

  1. hand — part of the body
  2. hand — help
  3. pit — a fruit stone
  4. chair — a leader
  5. capital — a big letter
  6. field — farmland
  7. chair — a professorship
  8. kid — to tease
  9. field — a subject
  10. spell — magic
  11. cabinet — ministers
  12. field — for sport
  13. cabinet — ministers
  14. capital — a city
  15. kid — child
  16. cabinet — a cupboard
  17. spell — letters
  18. hand — in cards
  19. pit — a hole
  20. capital — money
  21. spell — a short time
  22. chair — to sit on
  23. pit — in a race
  24. kid — young goat (kid gloves)

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