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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. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  2. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  3. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  4. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  5. False peace will not ________________.
  6. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  7. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  8. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  9. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  10. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  11. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  12. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  13. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  14. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  15. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  16. David sat on the ________________.
  17. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  18. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  19. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  20. I'll be taking the ________________.
  21. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  22. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  23. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  24. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.

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

Answer key

  1. last — final
  2. row — a line
  3. swing — music
  4. capital — a big letter
  5. last — to go on
  6. tube — in a tire
  7. shower — to wash
  8. trunk — of a car
  9. shower — rain
  10. lean — to rest against
  11. row — to paddle
  12. trunk — of an elephant
  13. last — finally
  14. capital — money
  15. swing — in golf
  16. swing — to play on
  17. row — a quarrel
  18. capital — a city
  19. tube — a container
  20. tube — the underground
  21. lean — to bend
  22. lean — thin
  23. shower — a meteor shower
  24. trunk — of a tree

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