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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. David sat on the ________________.
  2. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  3. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  4. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  5. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  6. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  7. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  8. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  9. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  10. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  11. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  12. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  13. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  14. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  15. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  16. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  17. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  18. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  19. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  20. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  21. He is an ace ________________.
  22. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  23. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  24. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. swing — to play on
  2. cap — a hat
  3. capital — money
  4. pitcher — a jug
  5. fan — a supporter
  6. capital — a city
  7. rock — music
  8. trunk — of a car
  9. rock — to move gently
  10. swing — music
  11. capital — a big letter
  12. trunk — of an elephant
  13. cap — a lid
  14. fan — to cool the air
  15. swing — in golf
  16. straw — a straw man
  17. fan — a supporter
  18. trunk — of a tree
  19. cap — of ice
  20. straw — to clutch at straws
  21. pitcher — in baseball
  22. pitcher — a jug
  23. rock — a stone
  24. straw — dry grass

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