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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 · cap · kid · capital · swing · bear

  1. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  2. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  3. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  4. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  5. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  6. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  7. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  8. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  9. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  10. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  11. David sat on the ________________.
  12. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  13. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  14. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  15. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  16. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  17. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  18. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.

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

Answer key

  1. row — a line
  2. capital — a city
  3. cap — a hat
  4. bear — the animal
  5. capital — a big letter
  6. row — a quarrel
  7. kid — to tease
  8. row — to paddle
  9. swing — music
  10. bear — to put up with
  11. swing — to play on
  12. bear — the animal
  13. kid — child
  14. capital — money
  15. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  16. cap — a lid
  17. cap — of ice
  18. swing — in golf

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