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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 116 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. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  2. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  3. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  4. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  5. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  6. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  7. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  8. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  9. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  10. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  11. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  12. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  13. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  14. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  15. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  16. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  17. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  18. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  19. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  20. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  21. Don't do anything ________________.
  22. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  23. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  24. David sat on the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — a city
  2. present — a gift
  3. straw — dry grass
  4. capital — a big letter
  5. racket — for tennis
  6. swing — in golf
  7. present — there
  8. straw — a straw man
  9. rash — on the skin
  10. racket — a loud noise
  11. shower — rain
  12. shower — to wash
  13. wound — past of 'wind'
  14. wound — an injury
  15. swing — music
  16. shower — a meteor shower
  17. straw — to clutch at straws
  18. wound — an injury
  19. capital — money
  20. racket — for tennis
  21. rash — hasty
  22. present — the time now
  23. rash — a series
  24. swing — to play on

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