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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. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  2. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  3. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  4. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  5. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  6. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  7. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  8. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  9. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  10. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  11. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  12. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  13. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  14. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  15. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  16. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  17. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  18. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  19. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  20. That must've been a ________________.
  21. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  22. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  23. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  24. The ball is in your ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. shower — to wash
  2. bear — the animal
  3. prune — the fruit
  4. court — of law
  5. capital — a city
  6. capital — a big letter
  7. bat — for baseball
  8. capital — money
  9. shower — rain
  10. shower — a meteor shower
  11. bat — in an idiom
  12. prune — to trim
  13. bat — the animal
  14. rush — hurry
  15. drill — the tool
  16. drill — a practice
  17. bear — to put up with
  18. rush — to hurry
  19. drill — army training
  20. rush — a thrill
  21. court — of a king
  22. prune — to trim
  23. bear — the animal
  24. court — for sport

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