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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 116 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. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  2. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  3. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  4. That was a fun ________________.
  5. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  6. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  7. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  8. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  9. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  10. The King held a masked ________________.
  11. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  12. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  13. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  14. I can't ________________ this cold.
  15. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  16. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  17. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  18. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  19. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  20. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  21. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  22. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  23. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  24. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. ball — a great time
  2. row — a line
  3. row — a quarrel
  4. game — a match
  5. capital — a city
  6. stand — on your feet
  7. calf — of the leg
  8. game — a kind of play
  9. calf — a young animal
  10. ball — a dance
  11. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  12. calf — a young animal
  13. stand — for spectators
  14. stand — to bear
  15. kid — to tease
  16. capital — money
  17. row — to paddle
  18. game — wild animals
  19. kid — child
  20. capital — a big letter
  21. shower — to wash
  22. shower — rain
  23. ball — a round shape
  24. shower — a meteor shower

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