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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. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  2. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  3. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  4. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  5. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  6. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  7. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  8. When are we going to ________________?
  9. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  10. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  11. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  12. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  13. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  14. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  15. That was a fun ________________.
  16. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  17. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  18. David sat on the ________________.
  19. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  20. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  21. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  22. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  23. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  24. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.

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

Answer key

  1. perch — the fish
  2. capital — a big letter
  3. capital — a city
  4. land — ground
  5. shower — to wash
  6. band — a music group
  7. game — wild animals
  8. land — to come down
  9. shower — a meteor shower
  10. perch — for a bird
  11. race — humankind
  12. swing — music
  13. capital — money
  14. perch — for a bird
  15. game — a match
  16. race — the arms race
  17. band — a ring
  18. swing — to play on
  19. band — a rubber band
  20. game — a kind of play
  21. swing — in golf
  22. land — a country
  23. shower — rain
  24. race — a contest

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