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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 120 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. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  2. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  3. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  4. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  5. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  6. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  7. That was a fun ________________.
  8. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  9. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  10. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  11. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  12. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  13. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  14. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  15. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  16. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  17. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  18. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  19. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  20. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  21. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  22. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  23. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  24. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.

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

Answer key

  1. band — a ring
  2. shower — rain
  3. present — the time now
  4. wind — to turn a key
  5. patient — calm and waiting
  6. capital — a city
  7. game — a match
  8. game — a kind of play
  9. capital — a big letter
  10. scale — for weighing
  11. wind — moving air
  12. band — a music group
  13. present — there
  14. patient — a sick person
  15. scale — in music
  16. shower — to wash
  17. game — wild animals
  18. band — a rubber band
  19. capital — money
  20. shower — a meteor shower
  21. patient — a sick person
  22. present — a gift
  23. scale — size or range
  24. wind — moving air

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