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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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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. Have you met the new head ________________?
  2. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  3. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  4. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  5. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  6. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  7. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  8. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  9. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  10. There's no middle ________________.
  11. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  12. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  13. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  14. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  15. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  16. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  17. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  18. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  19. That was a fun ________________.
  20. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  21. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  22. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  23. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  24. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. coach — a trainer
  2. game — wild animals
  3. game — a kind of play
  4. perch — for a bird
  5. ground — crushed
  6. capital — a big letter
  7. spring — a coil
  8. bear — the animal
  9. capital — money
  10. ground — a position
  11. spring — the season
  12. shower — rain
  13. perch — for a bird
  14. coach — a trainer
  15. ground — the earth
  16. perch — the fish
  17. shower — a meteor shower
  18. capital — a city
  19. game — a match
  20. bear — to put up with
  21. coach — pulled by horses
  22. bear — the animal
  23. shower — to wash
  24. spring — of water

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