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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. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  2. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  3. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  4. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  5. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  6. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  7. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  8. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  9. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  10. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  11. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  12. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  13. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  14. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  15. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  16. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  17. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  18. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  19. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  20. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  21. He was locked up in a ________________.
  22. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  23. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  24. Do you need a ________________ with that?

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

Answer key

  1. pitch — completely
  2. capital — a big letter
  3. shower — rain
  4. cell — a phone
  5. pitch — a sales talk
  6. kid — to tease
  7. patient — a sick person
  8. band — a ring
  9. capital — a city
  10. shower — a meteor shower
  11. hand — part of the body
  12. capital — money
  13. kid — child
  14. pitch — a sports field
  15. hand — in cards
  16. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  17. patient — a sick person
  18. shower — to wash
  19. patient — calm and waiting
  20. band — a music group
  21. cell — in a prison
  22. cell — in biology
  23. band — a rubber band
  24. hand — help

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