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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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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: ruler · ground · hide · hand · capital · bat · drill · rock

  1. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  2. There's no middle ________________.
  3. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  4. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  5. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  6. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  7. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  8. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  9. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  10. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  11. A ________________ helps one to draw a straight line.
  12. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  13. Borders were drawn on the map using a ________________, with no regard for cultural realities on the ground.
  14. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  15. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  16. The people resisted their cruel ________________.
  17. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  18. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  19. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  20. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  21. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  22. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  23. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  24. We were using a ________________ as a seat.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — money
  2. ground — a position
  3. hide — to keep secret
  4. capital — a big letter
  5. bat — in an idiom
  6. rock — music
  7. bat — the animal
  8. hide — animal skin
  9. hide — to keep secret
  10. rock — to move gently
  11. ruler — for measuring
  12. hand — help
  13. ruler — for measuring
  14. ground — the earth
  15. bat — for baseball
  16. ruler — a monarch
  17. capital — a city
  18. ground — crushed
  19. drill — a practice
  20. hand — part of the body
  21. drill — the tool
  22. drill — army training
  23. hand — in cards
  24. rock — a stone

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