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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 from the word bank in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

Word bank: row · kid · capital · racket · swing · bark

  1. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  2. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  3. David sat on the ________________.
  4. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  5. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  6. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  7. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  8. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  9. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  10. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  11. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  12. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  13. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  14. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  15. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  16. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  17. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  18. I had a ________________ with my boss today.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — to tease
  2. racket — for tennis
  3. swing — to play on
  4. capital — money
  5. racket — for tennis
  6. row — a line
  7. swing — in golf
  8. capital — a big letter
  9. capital — a city
  10. swing — music
  11. bark — a dog's sound
  12. racket — a loud noise
  13. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  14. kid — child
  15. row — to paddle
  16. bark — of a tree
  17. bark — to shout
  18. row — a quarrel

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