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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. That was a fun ________________.
  2. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  3. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  4. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  5. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  6. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  7. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  8. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  9. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  10. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  11. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  12. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  13. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  14. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  15. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  16. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  17. The ball is in your ________________.
  18. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  19. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  20. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  21. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  22. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  23. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  24. Beijing is the ________________ of China.

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

Answer key

  1. game — a match
  2. racket — for tennis
  3. racket — a loud noise
  4. game — a kind of play
  5. shower — a meteor shower
  6. hand — help
  7. shower — rain
  8. shower — to wash
  9. hand — in cards
  10. capital — money
  11. wind — to turn a key
  12. game — wild animals
  13. racket — for tennis
  14. wind — moving air
  15. court — of a king
  16. fork — a garden tool
  17. court — for sport
  18. hand — part of the body
  19. fork — to eat with
  20. wind — moving air
  21. court — of law
  22. capital — a big letter
  23. fork — in a road
  24. capital — a city

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