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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 dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  2. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  3. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  4. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  5. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  6. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  7. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  8. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  9. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  10. The ball is in your ________________.
  11. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  12. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  13. Don't do anything ________________.
  14. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  15. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  16. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  17. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  18. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  19. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  20. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  21. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  22. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  23. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  24. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.

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

Answer key

  1. shower — a meteor shower
  2. mouse — for a computer
  3. court — of law
  4. rash — a series
  5. mouse — the animal
  6. fall — to drop
  7. fall — to drop
  8. bat — the animal
  9. shower — to wash
  10. court — for sport
  11. capital — money
  12. bat — for baseball
  13. rash — hasty
  14. fall — the season
  15. perch — the fish
  16. mouse — the animal
  17. shower — rain
  18. perch — for a bird
  19. rash — on the skin
  20. bat — in an idiom
  21. capital — a city
  22. perch — for a bird
  23. court — of a king
  24. capital — a big letter

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