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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. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  2. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  3. Have you found your soul ________________?
  4. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  5. The ball is in your ________________.
  6. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  7. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  8. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  9. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  10. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  11. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  12. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  13. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  14. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  15. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  16. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  17. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  18. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  19. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  20. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  21. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  22. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  23. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  24. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. shower — a meteor shower
  2. cap — of ice
  3. mate — a partner
  4. wake — before a funeral
  5. court — for sport
  6. capital — a big letter
  7. cap — a hat
  8. wake — to stop sleeping
  9. capital — money
  10. capital — a city
  11. chest — of your body
  12. cap — a lid
  13. kid — child
  14. shower — to wash
  15. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  16. shower — rain
  17. wake — a trail
  18. mate — to breed
  19. kid — to tease
  20. court — of law
  21. chest — a box
  22. mate — a friend
  23. court — of a king
  24. chest — of your body

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