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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 ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  2. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  3. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  4. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  5. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  6. There's no middle ________________.
  7. When are we going to ________________?
  8. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  9. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  10. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  11. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  12. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  13. We're almost out of ________________.
  14. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  15. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  16. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  17. You don't need to ________________ round.
  18. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  19. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  20. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  21. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  22. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  23. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  24. Beijing is the ________________ of China.

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

Answer key

  1. bat — the animal
  2. patient — a sick person
  3. shower — a meteor shower
  4. bat — for baseball
  5. perch — the fish
  6. ground — a position
  7. land — to come down
  8. shower — to wash
  9. shower — rain
  10. capital — a big letter
  11. ground — the earth
  12. patient — calm and waiting
  13. pop — soda
  14. capital — money
  15. ground — crushed
  16. bat — in an idiom
  17. pop — to visit
  18. pop — music
  19. perch — for a bird
  20. land — ground
  21. patient — a sick person
  22. perch — for a bird
  23. land — a country
  24. capital — a city

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