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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. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  2. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  3. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  4. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  5. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  6. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  7. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  8. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  9. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  10. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  11. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  12. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  13. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  14. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  15. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  16. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  17. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  18. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  19. False peace will not ________________.
  20. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  21. The ball is in your ________________.
  22. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  23. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  24. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.

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

Answer key

  1. shower — rain
  2. last — final
  3. rock — music
  4. field — farmland
  5. capital — a city
  6. shower — to wash
  7. court — of a king
  8. last — finally
  9. pit — a fruit stone
  10. field — a subject
  11. pit — a hole
  12. capital — money
  13. pit — in a race
  14. field — for sport
  15. wind — moving air
  16. shower — a meteor shower
  17. rock — to move gently
  18. capital — a big letter
  19. last — to go on
  20. court — of law
  21. court — for sport
  22. rock — a stone
  23. wind — to turn a key
  24. wind — moving air

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