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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. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  2. Have you met the new head ________________?
  3. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  4. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  5. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  6. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  7. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  8. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  9. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  10. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  11. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  12. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  13. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  14. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  15. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  16. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  17. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  18. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  19. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  20. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  21. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  22. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  23. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  24. It's one o'clock ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. shower — rain
  2. coach — a trainer
  3. scale — in music
  4. capital — a city
  5. patient — a sick person
  6. file — a line of people
  7. sharp — clever
  8. patient — a sick person
  9. coach — pulled by horses
  10. wake — to stop sleeping
  11. shower — to wash
  12. coach — a trainer
  13. patient — calm and waiting
  14. file — a tool
  15. shower — a meteor shower
  16. capital — money
  17. wake — a trail
  18. file — a document
  19. sharp — with an edge
  20. wake — before a funeral
  21. scale — size or range
  22. scale — for weighing
  23. capital — a big letter
  24. sharp — exactly

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