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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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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 · mine · chair · pound · bat · capital · club · foot

  1. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  2. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  3. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  4. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  5. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  6. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  7. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  8. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  9. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  10. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  11. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  12. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  13. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  14. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  15. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  16. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  17. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  18. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  19. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  20. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  21. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  22. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  23. The water is too ________________.
  24. Beijing is the ________________ of China.

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

Answer key

  1. bat — for baseball
  2. foot — a measure
  3. cold — an illness
  4. capital — a big letter
  5. pound — a weight
  6. club — a group
  7. cold — the Cold War
  8. mine — an explosive
  9. capital — money
  10. bat — in an idiom
  11. chair — a leader
  12. pound — for dogs
  13. foot — part of the body
  14. chair — to sit on
  15. pound — to hit hard
  16. chair — a professorship
  17. mine — for digging
  18. club — for dancing
  19. club — for golf
  20. bat — the animal
  21. mine — belonging to me
  22. foot — the bottom
  23. cold — not warm
  24. capital — a city

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