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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: ground · bat · key · mine · capital · game · scale · root

  1. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  2. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  3. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  4. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  5. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  6. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  7. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  8. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  9. That was a fun ________________.
  10. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  11. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  12. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  13. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  14. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  15. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  16. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  17. There's no middle ________________.
  18. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  19. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  20. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  21. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  22. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  23. This piece is in a major ________________.
  24. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — a city
  2. capital — a big letter
  3. bat — in an idiom
  4. scale — size or range
  5. mine — belonging to me
  6. ground — crushed
  7. game — wild animals
  8. game — a kind of play
  9. game — a match
  10. mine — an explosive
  11. bat — the animal
  12. bat — for baseball
  13. ground — the earth
  14. scale — in music
  15. root — the cause
  16. root — of a plant
  17. ground — a position
  18. key — for a lock
  19. root — of a word
  20. key — the most important part
  21. scale — for weighing
  22. mine — for digging
  23. key — in music
  24. capital — money

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