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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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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. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  2. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  3. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  4. He is an ace ________________.
  5. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  6. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  7. False peace will not ________________.
  8. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  9. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  10. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  11. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  12. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  13. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  14. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  15. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  16. What do you think of the new ________________?
  17. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  18. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  19. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  20. The ball is in your ________________.
  21. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  22. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  23. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  24. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — a big letter
  2. squash — the sport
  3. bark — to shout
  4. pitcher — in baseball
  5. bark — of a tree
  6. squash — to crush
  7. last — to go on
  8. pitcher — a jug
  9. capital — a city
  10. pitcher — a jug
  11. last — final
  12. last — finally
  13. capital — money
  14. court — of law
  15. cabinet — a cupboard
  16. cabinet — ministers
  17. shower — a meteor shower
  18. cabinet — ministers
  19. shower — rain
  20. court — for sport
  21. shower — to wash
  22. bark — a dog's sound
  23. court — of a king
  24. squash — the vegetable

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