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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.

Make a worksheet

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: cold · pitcher · game · capital · pop · land · charge · sharp

  1. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  2. When are we going to ________________?
  3. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  6. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  7. We're almost out of ________________.
  8. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  9. It's one o'clock ________________.
  10. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  11. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  12. The water is too ________________.
  13. The tickets are free of ________________.
  14. You don't need to ________________ round.
  15. He is an ace ________________.
  16. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  17. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  18. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  19. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  20. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  21. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  22. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  23. That was a fun ________________.
  24. Beijing is the ________________ of China.

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

Answer key

  1. charge — electricity
  2. land — to come down
  3. land — ground
  4. cold — an illness
  5. game — a kind of play
  6. game — wild animals
  7. pop — soda
  8. sharp — clever
  9. sharp — exactly
  10. charge — in control
  11. capital — a big letter
  12. cold — not warm
  13. charge — a price
  14. pop — to visit
  15. pitcher — in baseball
  16. sharp — with an edge
  17. capital — money
  18. pitcher — a jug
  19. pitcher — a jug
  20. land — a country
  21. cold — the Cold War
  22. pop — music
  23. game — a match
  24. capital — a city

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

Make a worksheet (0 words)

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