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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. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  2. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  3. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  4. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  5. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  6. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  7. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  8. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  9. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  10. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  11. He is an ace ________________.
  12. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  13. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  14. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  15. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  16. That was a fun ________________.
  17. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  18. The ________________ market has crashed.
  19. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  20. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  21. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  22. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  23. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  24. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.

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

Answer key

  1. pitcher — a jug
  2. capital — a big letter
  3. cap — a hat
  4. pitcher — a jug
  5. game — a kind of play
  6. cap — of ice
  7. stock — goods
  8. cap — a lid
  9. perch — for a bird
  10. perch — the fish
  11. pitcher — in baseball
  12. game — wild animals
  13. field — for sport
  14. stock — a soup base
  15. field — a subject
  16. game — a match
  17. capital — a city
  18. stock — shares
  19. fall — the season
  20. capital — money
  21. perch — for a bird
  22. field — farmland
  23. fall — to drop
  24. fall — to drop

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